


Metro: Second Light

by AnotherTakenUsername



Category: Destiny (Video Games), Metro 2033 & Related Fandoms
Genre: Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2020-04-23 19:30:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 39,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19157494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherTakenUsername/pseuds/AnotherTakenUsername
Summary: In which a Vex experiment goes wrong, a ruined city is sent forwards into the future, a Hive Wizard takes advantage of a new opportunity, a Vanguard fireteam finds new allies, and a lot of people die. Takes place part-way through Metro: Last Light, and during the events of Destiny 1.





	1. Prologue: A New Threat

This was not right.

They had made a mistake.

Tanrex, the Investigative Mind, poured over the streams of data entering its systems. Again and again, it searched tirelessly for what had happened, without success.

The goal had been simple. All they would do is test their teleportation and time travel abilities simultaneously, bringing materials from the far past for analysis and conversion.

They had not meant to bring an entire city back, and on  _Earth_ , no less.

Distracted, Tanrex could not help but think about that city. So much trouble, so many delays, so many lost connections, all because of the Guardians. Their tenacity was unmatched, although they could not hope to comprehend their grand plans. This setback must have been due to their interference, somehow.

Returning to the data, it studied what had actually been brought back through the portal. It appeared to be ruins of human structures, torn apart by what seemed to be human weaponry. High levels of radiation contaminated the area, although it was unclear if that was simply due to the accident or if it was part of the city itself. Clearly ancient, at least several centuries years old, possibly from the 'Golden Era' the Guardians liked to talk about. However, as far as it could tell, there was nothing noteworthy besides that.

A thought came unbidden to it.

_It is inconsequential._

Tarlex subsequently ignored the ruins, going over the experiment once more. They were not important. All that mattered was correcting the process.

It did not notice that, far away on Earth, beneath the ruins it had so recently brought into existence, something stirred.

* * *

 

"Look out, there's more coming from the tunnels!"

"Shit, I'm running low on ammo!"

"Where the hell is the demolition team? We can't hold here forever!"

Panicked voices shouted out in the cramped tunnel, echoing off into the distance. Hasty orders and warnings were thrown out into the air, as the men shouting them tried to establish some kind of order.

Mikhail ducked behind a nearby barricade, barely avoiding a series of glowing green projectiles as they soared over his head. Cowering behind the pile of sandbags and scrap metal, it was all he could do to try and reload his rifle, holding a new magazine in his trembling hand. The screams and chaos all around him made it difficult to even think, let alone keep his hands steady.

Around him, the northern entrance to Exhibition was being overrun. Machine gun and rifle fire bellowed around the main blockade as dozens of men tried to fight off the unknown threat ahead of them. Their defenses, built up to impressive strengths since the first appearance of the Dark Ones, were being pressed hard against this new threat.

The guards and militia were fighting with all they had, making sure the enemy paid for each step they took. Their weapons rang out constantly, and the tunnels shook with the occasional grenade or pipe bomb. Unfortunately, despite all their efforts, they were still being pushed further and further back. Bodies littered the ground, and many of the defensive barriers had been blown away.

As Mikhail peeked back over his cover, firing off another burst, he tried to make out the bizarre figures surging towards them. They weren't like the regular mutants that he had dealt with back at Riga, or even the ones he heard about from the stalkers.

These things were worse.

Bizarre, humanoid figures that seemed to be made out of chitin and bone scrambled through the tunnels ahead of him. Some of them were scrawny, sprinting forwards to slash and impale the closest defenders with their claws. Others seemed to hold back, letting the smaller ones take the brunt of the firepower while sending shards of some disturbing green crystal towards the defenders.

He had even seen one or two massive ones wielding fucking  _swords_ , of all things. It almost seemed like a joke to Mikhail when he first saw them. Then, after one of those creatures cleaved through three men at once, it quickly stopped being funny. The fact that it took three entire magazines just to take one of those bastards down made Mikhail even more frightened of them.

Despite how odd these creatures were, there was one fact about them that had made them far worse than even the most aggressive Nosalis packs: they never ran out of bodies.

They had already been fighting here for an entire day, with the creatures swarming them for hours at a time. It was surprising that they hadn't overrun the station yet, with how slow reinforcements from other stations were arriving. The only reason they had even managed to set up this defense had been due to an alert from a lucky stalker, who had managed to run to the station after his group was ambushed on the surface. If he hadn't warned them…

Mikhail shuddered, moving his mind on to more pressing matters. Such as the fact that his rifle was no longer firing.

Having spent his newest magazine seemingly in seconds, Mikhail scrounged through the ammo crates nearby, hoping that there were still a few spares left. It was a miracle they hadn't run out of ammunition completely with how many rounds they had already fired. Thankfully, he managed to find one that still had some rounds in it, slamming it into the rifle and racking the slide. In the midst of all the chaos, the weight of a full magazine was still one feeling that brought some measure of comfort to him.

"Everyone, fall back! Fall back!" a voice called out behind Mikhail. "We're moving to the rear barricades! Get over here!"

Backing away from his cover, Mikhail quickly began to sprint further towards the station, trying to stay out of the firing line of the rear guard. Tracers and green projectiles filled the air around him as he hurried, lighting the walls in a horrifyingly beautiful display of color. Others nearby quickly followed him, with a few aiming backwards and providing covering fire. He could hear a couple of dull thuds behind him, presumably someone throwing grenades at the creatures.

He was quickly corrected when a massive, black-green ball flew by his head, impacting a pile of sandbags ahead of him and scattering them throughout the tunnel. He could hear more screaming, from men either caught by that bizarre attack or simply hit from the other projectiles flying through the air, but he didn't have time to think about it. All he could do was get to the next defensive line and hope for the best.

Sparing a glance behind him, seeing the destroyed defenses and piles of bodies, Mikhail found himself with very little hope.

Climbing over the last set of barricades, Mikhail quickly moved into a firing position alongside those who had survived the retreat. There were still nearly thirty men left, but it was clear that all they could do was delay the monsters at this point. Most of their heavy weapons had already been destroyed or abandoned, and they didn't have the explosives necessary to try and demolish the tunnel.

Another man pushed through to Mikhail's side, hefting up a shotgun and placing several pipe bombs in easy reach. Glancing at him, Mikhail grimaced at the sight of one of those strange projectiles in the man's leg, bleeding profusely and staining his trousers a dark red. It was obvious that, should this position fall, this man would not survive another retreat.

The man turned back towards Mikhail. "Don't worry about it," he grumbled, "these little shits only scratched me." Grabbing a grenade, he started to chuckle. "Compared to the Reds or the Nazis, fighting these bony fucks is nothing."

Concerned, Mikhail turned to look at the others nearby. A collection of dirty, exhausted guards met his eyes, checking their weapons and doing their best to prepare for the inevitable. Most of them were wounded in some way, bleeding from cuts or those unnatural green crystals. Even if they managed to hold out, many of these men would likely die from their wounds. There were simply too many wounded and not enough doctors or medical supplies to help them. Only a handful, himself included, had managed to avoid being hurt thus far.

The only reason they hadn't broken completely yet was one of those men. Clad in thick, black-and-grey body armor, and wielding a heavily modified Kalashnikov, the soldier had been vital in coordinating the defense and leading the guards. His figure was pockmarked with several green crystals, but he remained standing tall, encouraging the others with shouts and battle cries.

He was no mere militiaman or guard. He was a Spartan Ranger, who had recently arrived from Polis to investigate the rumors coming from Exhibition. The Order's logo was proudly emblazoned on the man's helmet, shining out almost defiantly at the creatures that dared try to strike it down.

Pointing forwards, the figure cried out towards the chaos in front of him.

"Look! Look at what these mutants have done here! They charge us, fight us, try to bleed us dry!"

Turning back, the Ranger rose his arms into the air.

"But we have not fallen! We have held under their assaults, time and time again, paying them in kind for every injustice they have forced upon us!"

Overpowering even the inhuman shrieks in the distance, the man's voice continued to grow in volume.

"Soldiers of Exhibition, of Riga, of Alexeyev! They think that they have broken us, that we cannot hold under the weight of their numbers! Will you let them through, towards your friends and families? Or will you prove, once again, that these bastards aren't worth the bullets we send towards them?"

The resounding shouts of the other defenders answered him, echoing out in defiance and anger.

" _FOR EXHIBITION! FOR THE COMMONWEALTH! FOR THE METRO!"_

Cheering out, Mikhail aimed his rifle back towards the tunnel entrance. Spotting more of those disgusting creatures, he aimed carefully, lining up the sights and waiting for them to get closer.

They would not have Exhibition while he drew breath.

* * *

 

It took two more hours for the last defenses to fall around Exhibition.

The defenders put up an admirable fight, taking many of the Hive with them. Unfortunately, their ammunition ran out before the enemy ran out of bodies. The last defenders died fighting, using their weapons to desperately club away at the throngs of Thralls and Acolytes that pushed towards them before finally falling to the sheer weight of numbers.

Their spirited defense bought enough time for most of the inhabitants to flee, but it was not enough to save everyone. Instead of hundreds being slaughtered in the passageways and sheds of Exhibition, only a few dozen were left behind to be butchered. Knights plowed through the ramshackle huts, scattering their contents throughout the pathways as the last remaining humans were hunted down.

Weaving through the destroyed settlement, Nuvur Kevun watched the proceedings with a contemplative gaze.

Normally, he had only heard of Guardians trying to hold against Hive groups as numerous as his. For mere humans, without a speck of Light to fortify them, there should have been no obstacle. And yet, despite his efforts, they had managed to hold him back for far longer than he had anticipated. Clearly he had underestimated them.

He would not do so again.

Looking towards the station's southern entrance, he thought of the broken holes in the tunnels, and the gates leading to the surface. The surface, while clearly irradiated enough to be fatal for humans, had not been difficult to traverse for those that served him.

As he thought of the humans that escaped, he noticed a map hung up by the now-ruined defenses, showing dozens of other settlements spread out throughout the area. While some had been crossed out, it seemed that humans had infested the entire network down in the tunnels.

Laughing, he began to plan.


	2. Discoveries and Disasters

**Two days after the fall of Exhibition**

**On the surface, near the Theater**

"Come on, Artyom, we're nearly there!"

Artyom rushed after Pavel, sprinting towards the ruined building ahead of them and clutching his shotgun tightly. Behind them, the telltale howls of Watchmen followed as a massive horde of the mutants chased after the two men.

They were so close to safety, so close to reaching the Theater. After what had felt like days of fighting Nazis, crawling through tunnels, and maneuvering across the surface, they were nearly towards their goal. All they had to do was make it to the station gate, and they would finally be safe, free to return to their homes.

And yet, so close to their goal, it seemed that fate had other plans for them. They had barely walked out from the crashed airliner with their lives, and now they were trying to escape from one of the largest packs of mutants Artyom had ever seen. He could almost laugh at the situation, were he not currently running for his life.

They had tried to fight off the horde a few streets ago, hoping that their weapons would be enough to deal with the threat. All it had resulted in was several dead mutants, many more mutants becoming angry, and most of their ammo being spent.

Turning around as he reached the building, Pavel looked back towards Artyom and gestured towards a hole in the wall. "Up there! Hurry, I'll lift you up!" he shouted.

It was a plan. It would be easier than trying to knock down the front door, and the hole looked low enough that they could reach it. At the very least, it might buy them a few seconds from the Watchers.

Swiftly moving towards the wall, Artyom stepped onto Pavel's cupped hands and jumped upwards, clambering into the opening and throwing his weapon inside. Looking back at Pavel, Artyom quickly thrusted his hand down, grabbing onto his arm and pulling him up just as a group of mutants reached the wall.

The two of them crashed on top of each other, impacting with the hard marble floor. Groaning, Pavel stood up, aiming his rifle and quickly checking the room.

"All right, it's clear for now!" he said, swinging his rifle towards the broken ceiling. "I don't think the snouts will wait for too long, though! We need to get to the gate!"

Reaching out and grabbing his gun, Artyom pushed himself off the ground and took a second to survey the room. It was amazing that the building hadn't collapsed yet, with the wreckage of a plane fuselage sticking across the room and rubble littering the floor. Thin streaks of light touched the ground from the ruined ceiling, offering just enough light to see a small gap to the side of the plane, almost hiding an old escalator heading further below.

Their path to safety.

The two men quickly started to move towards the escalator, keeping their weapons at the ready. By this point, both of them were out of breath, having run from the Watchers for what felt like miles. Their gas masks were filled with the sounds of heavy breathing, almost blocking out the cries of the mutants.

Except…

Pausing, Artyom glanced back towards the walls, lowering his shotgun slightly. Something was off.

The Watchmen had stopped screeching.

Sensing Artyom's hesitation, Pavel grabbed his shoulder and shook. "Come on, Artyom, this isn't the time to sightsee! We can go see the shows once we make it inside, but we need to…"

Pavel's voice died down as he noticed the eerie silence, glancing at Artyom in quiet confusion. The walls were no longer rattling with the movement of hundreds of bodies, and the sounds of the creatures seemed to vanish into the distance.

The mutants had run away.

As Artyom reached this conclusion, Pavel snapped out of it, shaking Artyom's shoulder again. "Worry about it later! We can talk about this inside, once we've got hot food and good drinks in front of us." He joked, moving back towards the gate.

Spending a few more seconds glancing around the room, Artyom sighed, turning to follow Pavel. This situation had him on edge. He had seen enough of the beasts across the surface to know that Watchmen never stopped attacking, especially when they had the numerical advantage. So what could cause such a large pack to turn away so suddenly?

Shaking off the feeling of déjà vu, Artyom moved towards the escalator, never fully relaxing as he moved towards what had started to feel more and more like a trap.

As Artyom caught up with Pavel, the two quickly made their way underground, seeing the massive iron gate that protected the station from the surface. The entrance to the Theater was right in front of them.

They also saw that it was open, and that several bodies were lying near it.

The two men stood together, barely even breathing as they processed the sight in front of them. The station that they had spent so long trying to get to, the hope of returning home, had been dashed in an instant.

"…Shit." Pavel muttered, hunching his shoulders in frustration. "This shouldn't have happened. We're right next to the Red Line. With a breach like this, there should be soldiers all over the place trying to close it off. Where the hell…" he mumbled, raising his rifle again and shuffling forwards.

As the two cautiously advanced, they took a closer look at the bodies. They were clearly station security, wearing heavy armor and wielding higher-quality weaponry than most travelers could afford. Most of them were wearing gas masks, although many of them had broken visors, rendering them useless. And all of them had died facing towards the station, despite the open gate behind them.

Their wounds were bizarre as well. Many of them had deep gashes and cuts in their bodies, with blood splattering all across the floor and walls. A few of them even appeared to be partially dismembered, their bodies mutilated and their limbs missing.

What truly disturbed Artyom, however, were the strange crystals poking out of some of the corpses. They seemed to glow with a malevolent green light, lighting up the bodies and casting eerie shadows nearby. Even with the things he had seen across the Metro, he'd never seen a weapon that had caused this kind of damage.

Cursing, Artyom noted the large number of bullet casings scattered across the floor. These guards had died fighting something, or possibly a large number of things. But, as he glanced at the rest of the station entrance, all the bodies Artyom saw were human. Artyom shook his head, trying to shift his thoughts from Hole and Timiryazev. He couldn't afford to be distracted.

Turning back towards him, Pavel spoke. "Alright…alright, so-so-so, this situation is not good. We need to figure out what happened here and see if anyone's left. Help them out, secure the station, and then we get to rest." Heading back towards the ruined checkpoint, Pavel straightened up. "And let's be careful in there. I don't want to have to find another musketeer, d'Artagnan!"

Sighing, Artyom moved behind Pavel as the two made their way inside.

* * *

" _Guardians, we've detected some unusual readings coming from the ruins of an old city near your location. It appears that something has caused a massive radiation spike in the area, although we've been unable to locate the source."_

Umbra-7 sighed as she listened to the briefing. She hated the missions that came out of nowhere. They always seemed to leave her with a few new holes in her torso. And radiation on top of that? This was going to be an  _interesting_  mission, for sure.

" _In addition, a small Hive presence has also been spotted in the area. It seems that some of them have managed to get out of the Cosmodrome, and have moved into these ruins. We don't believe that they are responsible for the current situation, but you should still keep an eye out."_

She couldn't help but grimace as she heard that news. She absolutely hated the Hive, even more so than the Fallen or the Cabal. At least those appeared to have some degree of rational thought in them, even though they still fell under 'shoot on sight'. The Hive, on the other hand…

Well, there was a reason she didn't have to go to the Moon unless she had to.

" _Investigate the area, figure out the source of the radiation, and try to shut it down. In addition, figure out why the Hive have shown an interest in this area. Remember, this is just a reconnaissance mission. If the threat is too severe, pull back."_  Zavala finished, leaving the channel.

" _And here I thought that we'd get a simple mission for once."_  A second voice spoke into her headset.

Umbra couldn't help but roll her eyes. "And miss out on all the fun? You know we're not that lucky, Keira."

It always shocked Umbra a little how laid back Keira was, for a Warlock. Just another sign that miracles could happen. Still, she couldn't complain. It was always better to banter in the face of impending doom than to actually spend time thinking about it.

Looking back at the ship's controls in front of her, Umbra tried to get the lay of the land. Her Fireteam had been flying around Old Russia for a while now, hoping to get a lock on the old ruins that had the Vanguard so confused. They'd only been officially told about it in the briefing, but rumors had been flying around the Tower for a few days now.

Cities didn't just appear out of thin air. Well, normally, at least. Maybe it was different with the Vex, but they weren't around this time.

This could be something big, and with everything that had happened with the Black Heart, nobody wanted to take any chances when the Traveler was so close.

" _Hey, I think I'm seeing something up ahead,"_  a third voice spoke out.  _"Looks like a bunch of ruined buildings. I think we've found our target."_

"Way to go, Sly. Let's find a spot to land and get moving." Umbra said, scanning the landscape and observing the city ahead. Sly-3 may not be as good of a scout as her, but he still had his moments.

'Ruins' was a generous word to describe the city in front of them. She'd been in plenty of regular ruins before, and seen how run-down some of those Golden Age sites could get. Even then, they'd mostly been standing, although usually with a few more holes than intended and some unwelcome squatters to clear out.

This place was barely standing. Empty concrete shells stretched into the landscape as far as she could see, cast into shadows by the stormy grey clouds above. The streets were filled with rusting vehicles and debris, and the ground itself seemed to be cracked open in places. A few buildings were in better shape than the others, like that one with the spires and the star on top of it…

_The star…it's beautiful…_

_I need to…see it…go to it…_

"Umbra? Umbra!"

As her ship flew past the building, taking the star out of eyesight, Umbra snapped back into reality. She shuddered, clutching her shoulders and glancing around wildly. Catching the sight of her Ghost, Umbra began to calm down slightly.

"Sorry, Nel," Umbra stated, still trying to figure out her thoughts. "I just...saw that building, and…what the hell even  _was_  that?"

It was hard to tell, but her Ghost looked almost sheepish. "Sorry, I'm not sure. I'm not sensing any unusual readings from that structure. The Hive also don't seem to have entered that area yet. Some sort of new phenomena, possibly?"

Great. More things to worry about.

Sighing, Umbra spoke into her radio. "Keira? Sly? Watch out, there's something weird with this place. Messes with your head."

Static greeted her. "Keira? Sly? Come in if you can read me. You guys there?" No one answered. Worried, she glanced towards her Ghost, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut. The last time her communications had been jammed…

She'd lost a lot of friends that day.

"There seems to be something blocking communications around here." Nel stated, her shell whirring in concern. "I tried to alert the others, but I don't know if they heard me. Their ships have landed nearby, if you wish to meet up with them."

So, on the one hand, she could fly out of the area and alert the Vanguard, but risk her friends dying. On the other hand, she could land and help her fireteam, but remain unable to talk to the Tower.

"Another one of those days." Umbra muttered, steering her ship towards a small plaza nearby. Hopefully she could catch up with them before they made it too far ahead.

* * *

The inside of the Theater was even worse than the entrance.

Rubble and trash were scattered around the floor, covering countless bullet casings and numerous bodies. Fires dotted the platform, filling the area with smoke and uneven orange lights. The walls themselves appeared to barely be standing, filled with bullet holes, more green crystals, and some sort of strange white substance that coated some of the entrances.

Artyom and Pavel slowly advanced, their ears straining for any hint of danger or life. All they heard were their own footsteps and the roar of the fires, greedily catching onto whatever was nearby.

The hallways were filled with far more bodies than just the entrance. Guards, Red Line soldiers and civilians littered the ground, their faces seemingly frozen in fear and pain. Artyom tried to ignore looking at one particular corner, where the bodies looked smaller than the rest.

To make navigating even more difficult, it seemed that something had torn apart the various stands and huts of the previous inhabitants. Clothing, wood, food, and other items spilled out throughout the halls, catching onto their feet and causing a significant amount of noise as they walked.

Uncertainly, Pavel turned back towards Artyom, whispering. "I don't like this. This station has to have fallen recently, otherwise the bodies and food would be rotting." Glancing at a nearby pot, he frowned. "Shame. They made some kick-ass stew here."

Indeed, most of the bodies they had checked appeared to be fresh. Some of them hadn't even been dead long enough for the blood from their wounds to dry up.

"Maybe…maybe we shou-" Pavel started to say, before glancing around Artyom and going wide-eyed. Cursing, he dragged Artyom to cover before bringing his rifle to bear on one of the few huts left standing.

"Don't shoot, we're human!" an unfamiliar voice called out. "Get over here before they spot you!"

"Who the hell are you? Where is everyone?" Pavel shouted back.

"I'll tell you once you're inside! Hurry, it's not safe out there!"

Cautiously, Pavel and Artyom moved over towards the hut, weapons raised and ready to fire. The man inside the hut made no argument as they approached, simply waving them over. He wore the khaki uniform of a Red Line soldier, but it was absolutely filthy and disheveled. He appeared to only be wielding a revolver, and he made sure to keep it pointed straight at the ground as they approached.

Once the two men made it inside, they noticed that he was not alone in the hut. Around half a dozen other people were further inside, clustered together and arguing silently. Several of them appeared to be wounded, with bloody bandages covering parts of their bodies, but none of them seemed to be incapacitated. Most of them wore the uniform of Red Line soldiers, while the rest appeared to be station guards.

Behind them, the man at the door was quick to close and lock the entrance before turning towards the two new arrivals. "I don't think you were followed. The bugs haven't made any noise yet." He murmured, holstering his weapon. "Now, who the hell are you, and why the fuck did you come here?"

Pavel turned towards the soldier, his face contorting in anger. "What are we doing here? What about  _you_? This whole station has fallen apart, and you're here hiding! What the fuck happened?"

"It was those monsters," one of the guards said in a panicked voice. "The new ones from the north, that look like twisted skeletons and shriek like the souls of the damned. They swarmed the place while we were trying to sort out some refugees, and we couldn't get the gate closed in time."

Artyom froze. Another threat from the north? Something other than the Dark Ones? Had it managed to reach Exhibition? Could they beat back something like this a second time, without any missiles?

"Wait, wait, wait." Pavel said. "New mutants? Oh, this is not good."

"You have no idea. They'd wiped out most of the station in the span of a few hours, then started heading to Revolution. We've been holed up in here for a while waiting for help." The soldier at the door frowned, then looked at Artyom. "So…I take it help's not coming."

"We haven't seen a single living person since we broke out of Tverskaya." Artyom said, glancing at the weapons the group held. Out of the seven people originally in the hut, only three of them were armed. The soldier by the door had his revolver, one of the guards had a bastard gun, and another soldier was holding a Kalash. What happened to the rest of their weapons?

"Look, we don't really have time to talk now." One of the soldiers, who appeared to be some kind of officer, stepped forwards. "It's not safe here, and we can't go through the tunnels. With your weapons, maybe we could-"

He was cut off by a sharp, inhuman screech from somewhere outside the hut. Everyone fell silent for a moment, staring intently at the door and listening for any other noises. From elsewhere in the station, they could hear what sounded like hundreds of feet moving around.

"…what the hell is that?" Pavel whispered, slowly backing towards the others and raising his rifle.

"The bugs," The officer whimpered. "They've come back for us."

* * *

Umbra-7 was not having a very pleasant day.

For starters, she'd been cut off from both of her friends. She had made it to their ships, but neither Keira nor Sly were anywhere to be seen. While concerning, she wasn't too worried about their safety. At least they had each other to rely on.

Then, when she had entered the tunnels in search of them, she had gotten lost. There were no maps to go off of, half of the pathways she had found were filled up with rubble, and dozens of smaller side tunnels and holes were dotted around the place. The fact that it was pitch black only made the situation creepier.

What truly topped it off were the weird creatures she had run into repeatedly. Large, four-legged animals with massive mouths and hairless skin had already claimed this place as their home, and were spread out all over the place. They seemed to take offense to her presence, and repeatedly swarmed her as she tried to figure out where to go. Only the Hive had been as persistent in clawing at her, and at least they tended to set up a few lights when they took over a place.

It was no surprise, therefore, that her mood wasn't very good at the moment.

"Fuck this, fuck this, fuck this,  _fuck this_." Umbra muttered, climbing into a destroyed tramcar. "All I ask for is one fucking  _normal_  mission, without any Hive or sudden twists, and I get  _this._ "

Nel floated besides her, casting a cone of light into the eerie and damp tunnels. She hadn't said anything for the last half hour, letting her Guardian vent out her frustrations, but she was getting worried. They still hadn't managed to reach anyone through their communications channels, and Umbra was only getting angrier.

"Fuck, fuck…maybe…" Umbra said, glancing towards a skeleton that was lying on one of the seats. "…no, fuck this." She walked forward briskly, trying to ignore the other signs of death around her and getting out on the other side.

She'd never admit it, but something about this place unnerved her. It wasn't like she wasn't used to seeing skeletons, or corpses. It's hard to be a Guardian and avoid seeing some of the casualties of the Collapse. Here, though, something felt off. It was like the bodies didn't seem quite as dead as they should.

"Are you sure you can't detect anything that might help us? Electricity, heat, Hive voodoo, anything?" Umbra asked, looking over at Nel.

"Nothing so far, aside from more of those creatures following us."

Moaning in frustration, Umbra looked at the weapons she'd brought with her. Doctor Nope was serving her well in the cramped tunnels, especially with its high rate of fire. Thankfully, whenever her new enemies got too close for the auto rifle, she still had Invective on her. It hadn't been easy to get that shotgun, but it had proven its worth in the close confines of this place.

She hadn't tried out the Exodus Plan RS/1 on these creatures yet. It would probably be pretty satisfying, but she wasn't sure if the tunnel could handle a rocket launcher. A lot of that concrete looked really fragile.

Satisfied with her loadout, she looked back towards the tunnel ahead of her, before noticing that Nel wasn't moving with her. Glancing back, she was about to ask her Ghost what the matter was when she saw what it was staring at.

It was a human body, slumped over on the side of the tunnel. Wearing some kind of khaki uniform and basic body armor, it looked out of place in the grey and dark tunnels around them. One of its hands was clutching some kind of auto rifle, although it looked fairly simple compared to the one in her hands. However, she wasn't paying attention to any of that, instead focusing on two important things.

The body was fresh. It had barely even started to decompose, although there were a number of flies nearby. That meant that, somehow, people had managed to survive the horrific radiation above. With how recently this person had died, there might even be others alive down here!

However, the wounds on his body indicated that wouldn't be the case for long.

The corpse's chest was filled with several glowing green crystals, softly lighting up the body and letting her see the grimace of pain on its face.

"The Hive are already down here?" Umbra asked, concerned. "I thought they were supposed to be further north than this."

"They may be using the surface to move around quickly." Nel responded, scanning the area. "Looks like he's only been dead for a few hours. At the very least, I think I know which direction he came from."

Umbra quickly got to her feet, moving further into the tunnel. "Let's go, then. If there are people living down here, we need to help them."

Together, the two started to move towards the Theater.


	3. First Contact

"RUN!"

The rest of the group didn't need any further instructions. Grabbing what supplies and weapons they could, they burst out of the damaged shack and started to sprint away from the shrieks. A small part of Artyom was frustrated that they couldn't stay and fight, but he wasn't a fool. If an entire Red Line station couldn't hold off these creatures, their small group couldn't stand a chance.

With most of their routes cut off by either mutants or rubble, the group was forced to flee deeper and deeper inside of the station, meandering through devastated pathway after devastated pathway. They needed to get to one of the station entrances, preferably away from the mutants, but the destruction made finding the right path difficult.

The men did their best to try and cover each other, but in their panic, it was inevitable that mistakes would be made. As the wounded began to grow tired and sore, they eventually slowed down, falling behind the rest of the group. The rubble and debris covering the ground only made the problem worse, with some men stumbling and tripping as they went. Artyom wished they could slow down, but with the sounds of movement getting closer, they had no choice but to keep moving forwards.

Hearing screaming from behind him, Artyom turned around. One of the guards at the rear had been caught, and he was now desperately swinging a wooden club at what appeared to be some sort of desiccated, grey humanoid, with a smooth upper skull and horrifically cracked limbs.

"What the hell is  _that_?" Artyom shouted, bringing up his shotgun and firing back at the creature. Pellets struck it just as it was about to send a clawed hand into the guard's side, blowing open a large hole into its torso and sending it sprawling backwards.

"It's the mutants! They're catching up!" One of the Red Line soldiers cried, sprinting past Artyom and ducking into a nearby alley.

As Artyom watched, more of those creatures came into view, clambering over their fallen comrade and latching onto the wounded guard. The injured man screamed as he was dragged back down the hallway, covered in a seething tide of inhuman grey figures.

Horrified, Artyom turned back towards the soldier had gone through, only to see more of the creatures start to appear at the other side. As he watched, several more members of his group were either cut down by those disturbing claws or caught by the creatures and pulled away. Absolutely shocked, he couldn't help but stare at the carnage in front of him.

"Come on, Artyom!" Pavel shouted, firing his rifle at the nearest group of the creatures. "We need to keep moving, or we'll all be bug food!"

Snapping out of his stupor, Artyom started to move backwards, firing off his shotgun as he went. He couldn't help but curse at his trembling hands or feel panicked as he remembered he was down to only a few shells.

The surviving members of the group continued to fall backwards, firing behind them and desperately fighting through several smaller groups of mutants as they went. Unfortunately, while they were still making progress, every obstacle they overcame left them with less ammo and more wounds.

By the time the survivors reached the closest station entrance, there were only four of them left. Pavel and Artyom were down to their sidearms, and even those were almost out of rounds. The officer was wielding some sort of combat knife, while the final guard was completely unarmed.

"Shit…so…so where does…this lead?" Artyom gasped out, trying to catch his breath.

"Venice," the officer replied, glancing back into the station. "It's…a bit of a walk…but…I think it's...still safe."

"No time…we need to warn Polis. This could threaten…the entire Metro! Miller needs to know..."

Frustrated, Pavel turned towards Artyom and shouted, "No! We need to…help Revolution first! Those things wiped out…this station, but we…we could still hold-"

"SHIT!"

As the officer screamed out in panic, the rest turned back towards the station, seeing the newest threat to their survival.

It was massive. Whereas most of the creatures they had fought were roughly human-sized and scrawny, this monstrosity looked like it struggled to fit even in the relatively open station entrance. Its body was covered in thick sections of dull-colored plating, already pocked and damaged by what looked like bullet holes. Glaring, bright-green eyes stared out from what looked like a bizarrely shaped helmet, seemingly piercing right into the men in front of it. One of it's arms seemed to be holding some sort of massive, metallic weapon, with an unnaturally glowing center.

Nobody moved for what felt like ages, with both sides observing each other. Even the creatures that had been following them seemed to fade away as the station fell into a terrible silence.

And then the monster  _laughed_ , in a deep, dark, horrible tone.

Panic shot through Artyom's mind. They had no chance of defeating this abomination. Even if they hadn't used most of their ammunition already, this thing could clearly sustain an incredible amount of damage.

Twisting around, he rushed past the others and sprinted towards the station entrance. Thankfully, the former station guards had already opened it before meeting their untimely demise. Normally the cold blackness outside of a station's defenses felt daunting, the mysterious depths where humanity could only barely tread. Now, that same blackness felt like the most comforting sight in the world.

He could hear the others running behind him, shouting in panic. Heavy, lumbering footsteps followed them, getting closer and closer with each passing second. There was no time to think about the others, no time to think at all. He just needed to hurry, move,  _survive-_

Artyom was so focused with running that he never heard the deep  _thump_  come from the creature's arm, nor did he notice the walls around him shift in disturbing and unnatural colors.

All he felt was a deep rumble from behind him, and a powerful force impact his body.

Artyom was no stranger to getting thrown around. Between mutants grabbing him on the surface and grenades detonating nearby underground, he'd taken his fair share of hard knocks. Those who couldn't get back up after taking a hit tended to not get back up at all in the Metro.

And so, as he found himself tumbling several feet into the dusty blackness of the tunnel, he managed to avoid getting knocked out. He could feel his shotgun slip out of his grip and fly out of sight, never to be found again. His body ached and complained, with sharp pains appearing in his legs and arms as they struck the hard earth. It was only after what felt like hours of rolling over metal rail tracks and debris that he stopped, his back hitting a pile of damaged sandbags.

Groaning, Artyom tried to sit up, ignoring the searing pain in his right arm and facing the station. He couldn't afford to wait, not with the beasts chasing after them.

The sight of ruined concrete, clouds of dust and destroyed barricades met Artyom's gaze. He tried to see if the armored creature had followed him, but he couldn't see it anywhere.

His comrades were also nowhere to be seen.

"No, no, no!" Artyom cursed, shakily standing up and moving towards the collapsed entrance. "Pavel! Pavel, are you there? Anyone?" He shouted, crouching and digging at the fresh piles of rubble. "Come on, guys! Can you hear me?"

It couldn't be. They had made it through so much in the past two days. The Nazis, the Watchmen, the surface, even the damned visions! And now, after all that, Pavel was either dead from the rubble falling or dragged off by creatures straight out of the darkest pits of the Metro.

Terrified and frustrated, Artyom tried to come to grips with what had happened. He was completely alone, cut off from the survivors from inside the station. He only had a pistol to defend himself, and even that barely had much ammunition left. His leg had started to hurt more, and Artyom found that it was difficult to move properly. Glancing down, he saw fresh blood seeping through his trousers.

Screaming in anger, Artyom began to hobble away from the ruins of the Theater. All he could do was try to find his way to the nearest station and try to get help. Even if this station had fallen, surely other stations nearby were still standing, and possibly even Rangers! He needed to hurry, to warn them about the-

Artyom froze as the now-familiar sound of shrieking reached his ears. Glancing back at the piles of rubble behind him, he saw several sections of concrete begin to shift and move.

* * *

"Did you just hear something?" Umbra asked, concerned. They had been following the dead man's path for several minutes at this point in the hopes that they could find where he had come from. So far, the only signs that anyone else had been around were more bullet casings and a couple of abandoned fires. The only positive had been the lack of any further animal attacks, although she couldn't help but feel apprehensive as to why they had stopped.

As such, the distant rumbling from the tunnels had almost been a relief. That meant they were on the track of…well, something, at least.

"I believe that may have been some sort of tunnel collapse, possibly as the result of a controlled detonation." Nel replied. "It's possible that, should other humans be down here, they may be trying to block off the Hive."

"Alright, then." Umbra replied, making her way forwards a little faster. If the Hive really had managed to find humans in these cramped, dark conditions, it would be a slaughter. Even if they had more of those old rifles and plenty of ammunition, there wasn't enough space to keep the Hive from overwhelming everything.

She couldn't help but grimace. If it weren't for the breathable atmosphere, these ruins wouldn't be too out of place in some of the destroyed colonies on the Moon.

_bang_

Umbra paused. Was that a gunshot? Did that mean…

_bang bang_

There  _are_  more people down here.

The people down here are  _still alive!_

Throwing caution to the wind, Umbra began to sprint forwards as fast as she could. It didn't matter how many animals or Hive were in her way. There were still survivors down here, somehow, and she needed to get to them.

"Guardian?" Nel asked, trying to float besides Umbra. "Are you sure it's wise to-"

"We need to help them, Nel!" Umbra shouted, refusing to slow down. "If someone's still shooting down here, they're probably fighting the Hive, and I am  _not_  letting those assholes kill someone on my watch!"

_bang bang BANG_

The gunshots were getting closer. All she needed to do was get to this person before they ran out of ammo, and she could protect them. She might even be able to get some answers as to what this place even was, or why the hell the Hive were even here in the first place.

_BANG_

One last gunshot rang out through the air before fading into the distance.

"Come on, come on! Don't stop shooting!" Umbra pleaded, hoping that the gunshots would start back up. Each second of silence only grated at her nerves, frustration and dread building up inside her mind.

Leaping over an overturned cart, she tried to see down the dim tunnel. The cobwebs and dust only made the visibility worse, keeping the edges of the pathway just barely out of her sight. Seeing a slight slope in front of her, Umbra rushed towards the top.

The sight in front of her was not good.

She had made it to the survivor. It looked like the man who had been firing was still alive, albeit barely. Wearing some sort of bulky padded coat and pants, his outfit was torn and bloodied in numerous places. He was crawling forwards on the ground, crying in pain and with one of his feet twisted at an unnatural angle. The gun he had been firing was nowhere to be seen, and he didn't appear to have any other weapons.

And following right behind him, Umbra saw a group of Thralls approaching.

Without even thinking, she brought up Doctor Nope to her shoulder and started firing.

* * *

"No, no, no, no, no!" Artyom moaned, crawling across the cracked concrete floor.

It had only been a matter of time before they caught up to him. He could have tried to outrun them if he was in better shape, but his leg was simply too injured to run. After pushing it for too long, it had given out under him, and he found himself unable to even stand up.

Even his pistol had proven useless in the end. He had made his shots count, and the rounds had been powerful enough to kill one of the creatures each, but he only had so many bullets. All he had done was buy himself a little more time to think about his failures.

He couldn't help but feel his eyes start to water. This wasn't supposed to have happened! These creatures weren't supposed to appear now, not when everything was finally starting to go right for him! He couldn't even warn the rest of the Metro in time!

Polis, D6, even Exhibition...could they hope to hold against creatures such as these?

It didn't matter anymore. He was in no condition to warn them, let alone save his own life. All he could do now, with his legs useless and his weapons dry, was try to crawl away, listening to those monsters claw their way towards him while trying to survive a few more miserable seconds.

Artyom glanced up, trying to find something that might help, and paused. At the top of the slope in front of him, some sort of strange light seemed to shine in from the distance, shaking as if it was moving erratically. He stared, confused at the sight, before noticing a figure within the light.

One that appeared to be holding a rifle.

_DRDRDRDRDRDRDRDRDRDRDRDR_

Artyom ducked down as the figure opened fire, grimacing as tracers lit up the air above him. The sound was unlike anything he had heard before, making him shudder with how fast it was firing. And with all of those tracers…how many military grade rounds were being used to help him?

All he could bring himself to do was lie there, listening as the cries of the monsters died off in a hail of gunfire. The fighting continued for what felt like hours, even though he knew the gunfire had only lasted a few seconds. Even after the firing stopped, Artyom couldn't bring himself to look up at his savior. He found himself shaking with fear and exhaustion, his body finally coming to terms with what he had gone through.

Artyom barely processed the sounds of footsteps moving towards him or the light that seemed to envelop him. It was only when a hand grabbing onto his shoulder that snapped him out of it, twisting away and facing whatever had gotten close.

And Artyom suddenly found himself unable to move once more.

The person in front of him was like nothing he had ever seen before. They didn't wear the usual makeshift armor of bandits or stalkers, or the tattered rags of those few unfortunates stuck outside of the station. Instead, they wore bizarre, sleek plated armor, covering what looked like some sort of dark bodysuit underneath. He thought he could see a few lights coming out between some of the joints, but they weren't enough to fully illuminate the figure. Their uniform showed signs of wear-and-tear, but it still looked in far better shape than most of the heavy armor Artyom had seen before. A light, tattered cloak trailed off behind them, with a hood casting their head into shadows.

Thankfully, they weren't aiming the rifle at him. Instead, they were kneeling a few feet away from him, hands raised in a calming gesture.

Artyom couldn't help but stare for several moments, unsure of what to make of his unorthodox savior.

"Who…who are you?" he murmured.

The person seemed to pause for a second, looking over towards the source of the floating light and asking something.

Artyom blinked. The light was  _floating_?

Squinting closer, Artyom could barely make out the thing the light was coming from. It appeared to be some sort of machine, made up of a number of white angled plates. It seemed to be split into different, identical pieces, all centered around a blueish core.

Said core also seemed to be staring directly at him.

"Wh- _what_  are you?" Artyom asked, much more nervously than before. The last time he had seen a floating ball of light, it had electrocuted a horde of mutants in front of D6. While this object looked less immediately threatening, he did not wish to underestimate it.

The floating object almost seemed to wince as he asked.

"Um, hi? I'm Nel. I'm a Ghost." it said, speaking with a light and vaguely metallic voice. "And this person over here is Umbra-7, my Guardian."

Artyom stared blankly at Nel.

"I take it you have a few questions."


	4. Questions Without Answers

Consciousness slowly clawed its way back into Pavel's head. Groaning, Pavel tried to wake up, fighting off the exhaustion and pain in his body.

"Ungh…what happened?" he muttered, slowly rubbing his forehead with one of his hands. What had he been doing before this? This wasn't like the normal hangovers he got whenever he visited the bars or brothels. It also wasn't quite as painful as the occasional prison or torture chamber he had escaped from. No, this sort of exhaustion only came after the  _really_  close calls…

Pavel started, snapping his eyes open. The Theater! He had been escaping from the Theater, running away from the packs of mutants that had infested the place! They had tried to figure out where to go, a massive beast showed up behind them, something had flashed…

Glancing around with unfocused eyes, Pavel tried to make out the chamber in front of him. He was in some sort of small, decrepit room. Blotchy patches of disgusting, white muck covered the walls and parts of the floor. Small, green lights and large lumps poked out of the substance in certain areas, making the whole area look like some sort of poorly-lit, overgrown cave. Instead of a normal door, there seemed to be some sort of green and black substance covering the doorway. While the barrier didn't completely cover the entrance, it was wide enough that he couldn't see far beyond it.

Peering across the floor, Pavel was glad to see that he was not alone. The guard and the officer from his group had been dumped into the room alongside him, although they were still unconscious. Their uniforms were filthy and torn, but the men themselves didn't appear to be too seriously wounded.

Taking care to move silently, he crawled to the others. Shaking the officer's shoulder, Pavel whispered "Come on, comrade. This is no time to sleep."

Moaning, the officer slowly began to stir, weakly slapping at Pavel's arm. Grinning despite himself, Pavel moved to the guard, shaking him as well. "Wake up, my friend, come on."

Behind him, the officer gasped loudly, quickly stumbling to his feet and shouting. "What the fu-"

"Be quiet!" Pavel whispered, glaring at the officer. "Do you  _want_  to bring those creatures back here?"

Sheepishly, the officer sat back on the floor. "But…but where are we?" He asked with a noticeably softer voice.

"No idea." Pavel shrugged. "We can figure this out once our friend here wakes up."

Turning back towards the guard, Pavel noticed that his eyes had finally opened up. Before he had a chance to panic, Pavel moved in front of him, gripping his shoulders.

"Don't worry, comrade, don't worry. We're safe for the minute, just calm down." Pavel spoke, trying to keep his voice calm and low.

Although he was clearly afraid, the guard nodded his head. Smiling, Pavel patted his shoulder and moved back towards the center of the room.

"Alright, so-so-so…" he muttered, looking at the others. "How are you guys holding up?"

"I'm…fine, I guess." The officer winced, moving his left shoulder. "My arm hurts like hell, but besides that, I'll live." Looking at the arm, Pavel couldn't see any obvious signs of harm. It probably got injured from when they were thrown back by the large creature.

"U-uh, I'm good. N-nothing hurts too badly." The guard stammered.

"Good, good, good. I'm fine as well." Pavel grinned, although he couldn't help but wonder about why that was. They had seen what looked like hundreds of bodies back at the Theater. Why had they, of all people, been spared and brought here?

Trying to keep his thoughts straight, Pavel continued. "Alright, since we're stuck together, we might as well get to know each other before we die. I'm Pavel."

The other two blanched at his joke. Pity, his humor always seemed to make Artyom chuckle.

Artyom?

Blinking, Pavel glanced back around the room, looking for a fourth body. No matter where his eyes wandered, he couldn't see Artyom anywhere nearby. Did he get hit by whatever the big mutant had done to them? Or had he managed to escape from the Theater?

The guard nervously coughed, bringing Pavel's attention back to the others. "W-well, I'm Titov."

"Lieutenant Anton Barinov." The officer replied, giving a half-hearted salute with his good arm. "Nice to meet you in person, Major."

Smiling, Pavel turned back towards the barrier, ignoring the confused looks he was getting from Titov. Now that he was looking more closely at it, it didn't appear to be solid. The patterns of the barrier constantly shifted and moved, giving the impression of looking at moving water instead of an actual door. While it didn't look steady, Pavel still kept a healthy distance from it. He had already dealt with enough unnatural bullshit today to know when to stay away.

"H-how are we going to get past t-that?" Titov asked, unsteadily getting to his feet. "I-I'm getting a bad feeling from it."

"Don't worry, my friend. Every door has a handle, even if they're creepy and made by mutants." Pavel said, glancing around the sides of the barrier. His eyes fell on a bizarre, glowing symbol near the side, lighting the wall in an unsettling green light. Noticing that it seemed to flicker in sync with the barrier, he started to come up with an idea. Quickly kneeling down, he was relieved to feel his knife still in his hidden boot sheathe.

Drawing his blade, Pavel turned to face Titov and Anton. "Alright, I have no idea if this will work or not. If it doesn't, I'll have scratched over some weird shit on the walls and we'll still be stuck here. However, if it  _does_  work, then I think…whatever the fuck  _this_  shit is," he gestured, pointing at the barrier with the knife, "will go away."

Noticing the confused looks on the others, he frowned. "Don't stare at me like that. All I said was that it was an idea. Just be prepared to move, quickly and quietly."

"Sir, are you sure this is a good idea?" Anton asked, swallowing nervously. "There could be more of the bugs out there. We're in no condition to fight."

"Well, we can either stay in here in the nice little snack box the mutants put us in and wait to get eaten, or we can try to actually get out of this shithole." Pavel replied.

Titov and Anton fell silent, remembering what had happened at the Theater to those the bugs caught. Wordlessly, they nodded.

Holding in his breath, Pavel slashed at the bizarre symbol, chipping away at the disgusting white substance underneath it. The symbol finally began to fade after a few swipes, fizzling away into darkness. As it did so, the barrier dissipated, leaving the doorway completely open. He waited a few seconds longer, trying to hear if anything had detected them, but couldn't detect anything else nearby.

Together, the three men wordlessly made their way into the dim hallway beyond.

* * *

"Are you sure he's okay?" Nel whispered, stealing glances at the man they had rescued.

"He's probably in shock." Umbra replied, trying to keep her own worries in check. "Just let him rest for now."

It had been a few hours since they had rescued the survivor from the Hive. They had brought him further back the way they had come from, into a small side room they had previously cleared, and tried to help with his injuries. Artyom, as the man had called himself, had been asking a lot of questions about the two along the way. At first, a lot of those questions had been surprisingly simple.

" _So, you are a...Guardian, you said? What does that mean?"_

" _Um…I'm one of the people fighting for the Last City and the Traveler."_

" _Traveler?"_

She had to admit, it had been concerning at first. Sure, the people who lived outside of the City tended to be out-of-date when it came to recent news, but not knowing what Guardians were? Or even the  _Traveler_?

" _Yeah…big, white machine that floats over the City? Gives us tech and Light superpowers? Ringing any bells?"_

"… _No?"_

The fact that they had to use Nel as a translator had only made the situation even more awkward. Umbra felt a little foolish for not studying up on more languages, but she hadn't expected to find anyone that could only speak Russian, even in Old Russia. Artyom, for his part, seemed to be suspicious of Nel for some reason, never taking his eyes off of the poor Ghost.

" _Sorry to ask, but are you…well, sentient? Or are you some sort of computer program?"_

" _I'm completely sentient! I'm a robotic manifestation of the Traveler's Light!"_

"… _what the fuck…"_

Not to mention that, admittedly, some of the terminology was a bit awkward to explain to someone who'd never heard of these things before.

" _What do you mean by 'cult'? I mean, sure, some people worship the Traveler, but plenty of people don't treat it religiously!"_

" _Then what are these 'Light' and 'Darkness' things supposed to be? Why does your robo-no, wait, sorry…why does_ Nel _say she's a part of this 'Traveler'? And why do you say that this 'Light' gives you powers?"_

" _Okay, I admit some of these terms are a bit weird, but they're all scientifically verified phenomena!"_

" _Didn't you just say those weird mutants could literally use magic?"_

Trying to explain what the Hive were had also brought its fair share of challenges.

"… _You have to be joking."_

" _What's so hard to believe about that?"_

" _Besides the part about the magic-wielding aliens that took over the Moon?"_

By the time they had finally reached the saferoom, it was clear that something wasn't right about Artyom. Even trying to talk about things like the Golden Age or the Last City seemed to completely baffle him. It was as if he had never stepped foot outside of these disgusting tunnels before!

Neither of them were in the mood for more questions at that point. In fact, Umbra had completely forgotten about her own questions about this place. Instead, she had Artyom sit down on an old table to try and look at his wounds. His leg needed to be patched up, and she was sure that wasn't the only injury he had.

She thought she had been pretty clever transmatting some medical supplies in from her personal stash. Artyom had disagreed.

" _How the FUCK did you do that?"_

" _Uh, what?"_

" _You just…_ summoned _those things from thin air!"_

" _No, I transmatted them here."_

" _What the fuck does_ that _mean?_

After several minutes of attempting to explain the nuances of Vaults, Glimmer, and transmatting, they had finally given up. Thankfully, Artyom's leg wasn't as damaged as it could have been. A few splints and some medicine later, and it was practically as good as new! Well, except for the fact that it couldn't really bend and was still incredibly sore. At least he could walk without having to lean on her shoulder the entire time.

However, the leg wasn't the only problem Umbra could find with him. It looked like Artyom had suffered quite a lot of injuries recently, with lacerations and bruising across most of his body. She would have asked him about those, but he fell asleep partway through her inspection.

Since then, she and Nel had been keeping watch for anything dangerous and talking quietly about the strange man they had rescued. He was clearly different from the normal drifters they occasionally ran in to outside of the City. Most of those people stayed outside the walls out of distrust of the Vanguard or because they wanted to live independently. With Artyom, it seemed like he couldn't even believe that the City  _could_  exist!

Now that she thought about it, this entire place was just weird. There were no central mainframes to look into, which was already unusual for a Golden Age structure. Most of the tech she had seen here was fairly primitive compared to what she was used to, be it the weaponry these people seemed to use or the materials that made up the tunnels. Judging by Artyom's reactions, nobody from this place had ever contacted people from outside of these ruins.

Looking at Artyom, she hoped that he would provide some answers when he woke up.

* * *

Pavel swore softly, quickly moving behind a nearby pillar. Nearby, Titov and Anton followed suit, finding their own hiding places. Just ahead of the three men, a small group of those strange mutants was slowly making their way through the hallway, chittering and growling among themselves.

Deep down, Pavel knew that they'd eventually start to run into more of these creatures. The sheer amount of that disgusting white substance was enough of a sign that they had made this place their home. Still, he had hoped that they could at least find the exit to this place before they ran into more of these mutants.

Glancing back, he noticed that these creatures weren't like the ones they had encountered before. Instead of thin, lanky bodies or massive armored forms, these mutants appeared to be a mix between the two. They still had the cracked white limbs, but their torsos and heads seemed to be covered with those bizarre armor plates. Frowning, he also noticed that they seemed to hold some sort of weapon in their hands, albeit smaller than the one used by the larger creature from before.

As the creatures made their way closer and closer to his hiding spot, Pavel shrank into the shadows. Despite his bravado from earlier, he was well aware that they couldn't fight these things hand-to-hand. If they were caught, then they were as good as dead.

Just as they were about to pass the pillar, a loud, piercing screech sounded off from down the hallway. Immediately, the mutants turned back around, hurrying back in the other direction. After a few more moments, the three men were alone again.

Titov and Anton looked at Pavel, clearly confused as to why the mutants left. All he could do was shrug. If those creatures were getting pulled away from them, then to him, it was a good thing. Granted, they still needed to go in the direction those creatures had gone, but it bought them a bit more time.

As the men moved forwards, Pavel tried to figure out where this place was supposed to be. They clearly weren't in the Theater anymore. Even these creatures couldn't have converted an entire station into whatever the hell this place acted as in just a few hours. The size of the place also implied that they weren't currently in the main metro tunnels. They were probably in some small service station, although where in the Metro it lay was unclear.

Looking off to the side, Pavel noted another one of those shimmering barriers blocking entrance to a side room. They had passed several of them as they tried to escape, but each time they had broken into them, the rooms had ended up either being empty or filled with corpses. After the fourth one, they had agreed to ignore them in the interest of keeping a low profile.

Turning a corner, Pavel was surprised to see light shining through an open doorway ahead of them. While the tunnels did have some light from the creepy green symbols, the pathways had still been fairly dim.

He waited for the others to catch up before addressing them. Facing the two, he gestured towards the room. "Wait a second, guys. Lots of light coming from up ahead."

Titov frowned. "That looks really bright. Are we up near the surface?"

"Not a chance." Anton replied, squinting his eyes. "If we were near the surface, we'd already be choking to death."

"Besides, even with all the radiation up there, I'm pretty sure the surface isn't glowing purple." Pavel said, pointing.

Titov and Anton took a closer look at the light, noticing that there was a slight purple hue to it.

"What the hell could be giving off that kind of light?" Anton muttered.

"We can't exactly go anywhere else." Pavel replied. "Alright, let's check it out, but slowly. I'll go first."

Nobody argued with that decision. They silently moved towards the doorway, growing more nervous as they approached. A few feet before they reached the next room, Pavel noticed a slight humming noise, filling the air with ominous buzzing as they approached.

When Pavel went through the doorway, he noticed that it was some sort of cylindrical chamber, like the concentration camp he had escaped with Artyom. Grated iron walkways circled around the sides, with many of them completely coated in more of that white substance. Instead of cages on the platforms, they were covered in dark purple crystals that seemed to fill him with unease just by looking at them.

However, most of Pavel's attention was taken up by the bizarre, floating  _thing_  in the center of the chamber.

Wearing what appeared to be some sort of tattered ceremonial robe, the creature looked almost like a frail version of the middle-sized mutants he had encountered in the hallway. Its head and torso were completely covered with greyish-red plating, and its arms were protected by what appeared to be gauntlets. Even the air surrounding the creature was filled with some sort of brackish-green substance, obscuring the floor of the chamber in a disturbing mist. Although not as physically dominating as some of the other mutants he had encountered, Pavel couldn't help but feel terrified of it.

The creature took no notice of the group entering. It seemed to be entirely focused on a massive crystal in the center of the room, moving its arms near it in a pattern across its surface. The crystal let off a powerful otherworldly glow that seemed to fill the entire room in purple light, although it didn't appear to do anything else.

Titov moved next to Pavel, crouching behind the railing and whispering. "U-um, s-sir, what is that?"

Pavel gave the young man an incredulous look. "How am I supposed to know that?"

"I think I can see a way out, sir." Anton said, moving to Pavel's other side and gesturing towards the edge of their platform. Near the wall, they could see a ladder going somewhere above the chamber.

"Great job. Come on, let's leave before more of those things show up."

However, before they could make their way to the ladder, a new sound stopped them. Far below them, they could make out what sounded like human screams coming from a tunnel below them.

"…Of fucking course." Pavel muttered, moving back to the railing. "Alright, I'll keep an eye on this. You two get to the ladder and check it out."

Anton nodded, heading towards the other side of the platform. Titov was about to object, but a sharp look from Pavel got him following shortly afterwards. Sighing, Pavel looked back towards the crystal. He didn't want to stay here any longer than he needed to, but if what was happening here was important, he needed to be able to alert the Red Line.

After a few more seconds, he noticed several figures walk out from one of the lower tunnels. Two of them appeared to be more of those middle-sized creatures, each holding onto the arms of a heavily wounded Red Line soldier. The poor man was crying out for help, thrashing hopelessly against his captors' grips to no avail.

As he watched, the floating creature finally stopped caressing the massive crystal. It turned, floating down towards the soldier and extending its arms. The man screamed even louder as it approached, seemingly feeling pain just from its mere presence.

When the creature touched the captive, something in the room shifted. The man's movements took on a random and frantic quality as he lashed out. Streams of that disturbing green vapor flowed around the man, sticking to his body and discoloring his skin and uniform. The soldier's screams became even more pained, filling the room with horrible shrieks and gasps of agony. As Pavel watched, the man seemed to shrivel up as the process went on, sending splashes of blood and ash to the floor beneath him.

After several minutes of the grotesque display, the man finally fell silent as the rest of his body crumbled away. The floating creature turned away slowly, moving back towards the massive crystal in the center. As it returned to its pattern, the glow the crystal emitted seemed to increase slightly, bringing even more of the room into focus.

"…What the  _FUCK?_ "

Pavel cursed as Titov's voice rang out across the chamber. Instantly, the creatures below looked for the source of the noise, screeching at each other while they did. Off in the distance, more screeches seemed to answer them from the tunnels.

Knowing they had been caught, Pavel quickly got up and sprinted for the ladder, shouting for the others to climb up as he went. If they got stuck trying to move up the ladder, those creatures would be able to catch up in a matter of moments. He saw Anton quickly get to the top before helping Titov through the hole, both looking horrified at what they witnessed.

Grabbing onto the ladder, Pavel swiftly climbed up, cursing Titov all the while. He tried to focus on catching up to the others but couldn't help feeling infuriated. They had nearly escaped! Now, because that fool couldn't keep his mouth closed, they might never get out!

Making it to the top, Pavel quickly swung his legs over the edge. Seeing a metal cover nearby, he rolled towards it, placing it on top of the hole with a weighty  _thunk_. It would buy him a few more seconds of life at the very least. Having accomplished that, Pavel turned to face the others, ready to beat some sense into Titov.

Instead, he found the barrels of two guns pointed directly towards him.

* * *

Moaning, Artyom massaged his aching head as he tried to wake up. It didn't hurt as badly as his ankle did, and the painkillers he had taken before helped, but he still felt sore. The last several days had not been kind to him, and the last few hours especially had nearly broken him.

It didn't help that his mind was still trying to sort together his strange companions and the things they told him. A city on the surface, filled with hundreds of thousands of people? Some giant god-machine that gave them technology and abilities?  _Aliens_? Even after everything he had seen, Artyom couldn't help but feel incredulous at what he had been told.

But there were things that he couldn't explain. There was Nel, the floating machine that helped Artyom talk to Umbra and lit up the area. Then there was the trick Umbra had pulled with the medical supplies, literally pulling them out of thin air in a cloud of blue sparks. Her weapons and armor were unlike anything he had ever seen before, and appeared to be in remarkably good shape.

There was clearly something wrong about the situation, but he had no idea what it could be. He had briefly entertained the thought of Umbra being some sort of enemy infiltrator, but he quickly dismissed that idea as ludicrous. Some of the older people in the Metro had occasionally told Artyom about how NATO had nearly killed them all and might come back, but he doubted that they had survived the war any better than Russia. Even if they had managed to hold together, there was no way they could have made such technological progress in just twenty years.

Sighing, Artyom looked at the floor. He was hungry, thirsty, injured, and horribly confused. His friends were likely dead, a new type of threat had entered the Metro, and he was still cut off from the rest of the Order. It almost felt like the Dark Ones all over again.

"Hey, Artyom, you okay?"

Glancing up, Artyom saw Umbra and Nel looking at him. He thought they were concerned, but it was hard to tell Umbra's reaction in her armor, and Nel was…well, Nel.

"No, not really." Artyom grimaced, rubbing his arm nervously. "It's just…I can't even begin to describe how strange your story is to me. I mean, everything you said is so…"

"Why is it strange?" Umbra asked. "Look, I know pretty much nothing about this place. How about you tell me a bit about what you know and what you think is normal. We can try to figure out what happened after that."

"We really need to know more about this place anyways." Nel added. "I don't want a repeat of what happened when you looked at that star."

"You looked at the Kremlin? Why would you do that? It's dangerous!" Artyom said, feeling concerned. Every stalker knew that, if you looked at the Kremlin's star, you'd find yourself drawn towards it. Unless something broke your gaze, you would walk into the building and never be seen again.

"Because, like I just said, we don't know anything about this place. It literally only showed up on our sensors a few days ago." Umbra sighed. "Look, how about you give us the basic run-down. You can save the specific stuff for later."

Frowning, Artyom nodded. "Alright…well…it all started twenty years ago, when the bombs fell."

"Wait, twenty years ago?" Nel asked, whirring in confusion. "What happened twenty years ago?"

"The war between Russia and NATO?" Artyom responded, feeling concerned. "The big worldwide nuclear exchange?" If they really had come from outside the Metro, surely they should know about this.

Umbra and Nel turned to glance at each other for a few seconds, seeming to tense up before looking back at him. "Artyom, what year do you think it is?" Umbra asked.

"The year? It's 2034. The bombs fell in 2013." Artyom replied. As the two faced back towards each other, the pit in Artyom's gut grew even larger.

"Well, Artyom," Umbra began, slowly clasping her hands together. "I'm afraid that 2034 isn't quite the correct year. In fact, you're at least a few centuries behind."

Artyom couldn't even bring himself to respond to that. He simply brought his hands up to his head, trying to make some sort of sense of it all.

"I think he's in shock again." Nel whispered.

"No, I'm not...it's not...ugh." Artyom muttered. "This situation just keeps getting stranger. Look, all I can say for certain is that the bombs dropped twenty years ago. Hell, there are plenty of people alive here who saw Moscow burn. How do you explain that?"

When his two companions looked back at each other again, he knew he wouldn't like the answer.

"Have you considered time travel?"


	5. Regroup and Rearm

"Wait, wait, wait!" Pavel shouted, throwing his hands into the air. "I'm human, don't shoot!"

The two figures in front of him held him in their sights for another moment. Then, without a word, one of them lowered their rifle and moved towards him. Pavel was quickly grabbed and shoved behind the figures, landing roughly on the cold concrete floor. He thought he could hear them saying something but he couldn't make any of it out.

Pushing himself off the ground, Pavel saw Anton and Titov in front of him. Both of them looked out of their depth with the situation, staying near each other and keeping their hands partially raised. It reminded him of some of the prisoners of war he had seen the Reich take shortly before they were dragged off towards the concentration camps. He would normally have felt sorry for them, but all he could feel at the moment was anger for Titov's idiocy.

Pavel stole a glance back at the strange gunmen. One of them looked like they were trying to seal the grate back down, and the other one was still trying to cover him. Good. They would be distracted long enough for him to have a quick conversation.

"What the hell was  _that_?" Pavel growled, making his way to the others. Titov tried to crawl away, but he wasn't fast enough. He didn't even put up a fight as Pavel grabbed his collar and shook him.

"I told you to stay quiet! And what do you do? You rang the fucking dinner bell!" Glowering, he leaned forwards until his face was inches away from Titov's. "Fuck up like that again, and-"

"Whoa, whoa! Enough of that!" An unfamiliar, muffled voice called out from down the hall. Glancing back towards the gunmen, he saw that one of them was facing back towards him. "We've got enough problems without fighting each other!"

Sending one last, furious look at Titov, Pavel released the guard before moving to the other side of the hallway. Leaning back on the wall, he tried to figure out who the two figures were supposed to be.

Their armor wasn't like anything he had seen before. The slimmer one appeared to be wearing some sort of white and blue coat, heavily padded and shockingly clean. Their head was even covered with a full helmet, covering their head completely in blue-painted metal. It reminded him of some of the stalkers he had run into on the surface, where their outfits had to protect them from the elements as much as the mutants.

The larger one, on the other hand, was wearing what appeared to be some sort of black and white plate armor, covering up everything except for the joints in his limbs. Even then, the figure's body was still protected with a dark bodysuit. The color pattern of the outfit was almost reminiscent of the horrible creatures they had just escaped from. Thankfully, as far as Pavel could tell, this figure was still human. Their head was also protected with a large helmet, with stripes of white going over a black faceplate.

Despite how strange they looked, Pavel knew better than to let his guard down around them. These people were clearly soldiers of some kind. The heavy gear they carried was enough proof of that, let alone the weapons they wielded.

But if they were soldiers, where had they come from? And why were they here, of all places?

He shook his head. There wasn't enough time to worry about this now, with the mutants right on their heels. A proper introduction could be made after they had escaped from these damned tunnels.

The strange soldiers seemed to have the same idea, moving away from the ladder and back towards them.

"Okay, we don't have much time." The larger soldier shouted, grabbing onto Pavel and Anton's arms. "That cover won't hold for long, and we need to be far away from here when that happens."

The smaller soldier nodded, pulling up Titov. "There's an access tunnel up ahead. It'll lead out to the main tracks, and we can run like hell from there."

"W-Wait!" Titov yelped. "W-who are y-"

"Walk now, talk later." The smaller soldier replied, tugging Titov forwards.

The five of them moved briskly through the hallway, doing their best to ignore the muffled shrieks and cries coming from all around them. It was a miracle that the floor was clear of rubble and the lights were still working. Even with the path clear in front of them, it seemed like the noises of the mutants were catching up to them, slowly getting louder and louder.

That's not to say that the going was easy. The larger soldier had taken up position in front of the group, while the smaller one had fallen back towards the rear. Pavel, Titov, and Anton were placed between the two, trying to keep up with the grueling pace they set. It made sense, seeing as how the strange soldiers were the only ones with weapons, but that only made him more uneasy.

After all, once they had made it out, the strangers already had the three of them trapped within their sights. It would be an easy step to go from saviors to jailers or executioners. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened with him and Artyom just a few hours ago.

But there was still time to prepare for that. Right now, with what sounded like every single mutant in the Metro screaming out behind them, all he could do was keep up with the group.

* * *

"Please stop."

"But it makes sense!"

"No, it doesn't."

"The Vex must have-"

"It doesn't matter!" Artyom growled. "None of this matters! We're wasting time!"

Umbra flinched, seemingly startled by the venom in Artyom's voice. He felt somewhat regretful, but he couldn't help himself. She had been going on about these crazy theories for what felt like hours, on and on about fantastical and illogical subjects. Time travel, robots, alternate dimensions…it was completely insane! And in the middle of all of this, while they were wasting time, those damned creatures still lurked within the Metro!

He was so  _close_  to making it back to help! All he needed to do was just make his way through the side tunnels, maybe a short walk across the surface, and the Order could be alerted! Damn his leg, damn the 'Hive' and damn Umbra, he had to make it back!

"I can't just stay here," Artyom murmured, looking around the room for a weapon. A Kalash, a revolver…hell, even a Shambler would do. "I need to get to Polis, warn the others, alert the Order…"

"Hey, Artyom?" Umbra asked. "What are you talking about?"

Sighing, Artyom turned to look at her. "Look, I appreciate the help you've given me, but I can't stay here. I need to get back to…well, the organization I'm with, for lack of a better term. I have to tell them about everything that's going on!"

Umbra crossed her arms. "I noticed you said 'I' there. You can't seriously be planning on going by yourself."

"I'm giving you and your crazy stories a chance, and that's just because of the insane shit I've seen you do. The rest of the Order probably won't be so easygoing even if I vouch for you. It's better if I go there alo-"

Artyom hissed as something suddenly knocked into his bandaged foot, sending waves of agony through his leg. Looking down, he could see that Umbra was tapping it with her boot.

"Yeah, sorry, but I can't let you go on your own. Believe my explanations or not, you still won't make it far with that leg, especially unarmed."

Nel turned towards Umbra, and the two began to argue again in that weird language of theirs. All Artyom could do was sit silently, rubbing his leg and thinking. He had made his way through terrible situations before while handicapped. Running through the Armory after being handcuffed, carrying the child through Hole Station, all the times his mind had been influenced by unnatural phenomena…

But even with those past experiences, he couldn't deny that he could use the help. With the state his leg was in, it would be impossible to run past any mutants in his way if they noticed him. Even worse, should the Hive catch up to him, he'd either be killed or face the same fate as Pavel.

Besides, Umbra had proven herself thus far. Even Nel had been helpful, although Artyom still had no idea what the hell she actually was. They would be his best chance of making it to Polis alive. Otherwise, he wasn't sure that the message would ever reach the rest of the Metro in time.

He could trust them for the time being. Maybe not in the long-term, but at least until he reached Miller.

"Alright," Artyom groaned. "If you're willing to come along, I appreciate it."

"Excellent!" Umbra said, spinning back to face him. Nel turned to face Artyom as well, although she seemed to be sulking a bit. "So, now that that's out of the way, let's go over the details. What are Polis and the Order, and how are we getting to them?"

"Polis is a…well, it's a collection of stations under the old State Library. It's one of the largest groups in the Metro, with some of the best technology and specialists left from the old world. I'd say it's…" Artyom paused, trying to remember the closest route from the maps. "…maybe an hour's walk away? Depending on how damaged the service tunnels are, it might be a bit longer."

"That shouldn't be too hard of a walk." Umbra replied, leaning back in her chair.

Artyom laughed. "Trust me, it's rarely that simple down here."

"Oh, I have some idea." Umbra muttered. "And the Order?"

"A group made up of the best fighters in the Metro, trying to keep people safe and prevent the different groups down here from killing each other." He smiled as he thought about all they had accomplished since joining. "There are a lot of us in Polis, and once they hear about the Hive, they'll be sure to help stop them."

"So, you're a part of this Order?"

"I joined a year ago, after they helped…" Artyom frowned, remembering the fate of the Dark Ones. "…well, it's a long story."

Umbra shrugged. "That's fine. So, you really think these guys can help out with this whole… _situation_?" She asked, waving her hand in the air.

"They're the only ones down here that can. Everyone else down here is either too weak to fight back against them or too focused on wiping each other out." Thinking back to the time he snuck past the front lines between the Reich and the Red Line, Artyom couldn't help but grimace. "Even after we destroyed the old world, we've still found new reasons to bleed each other dry."

"Hey, now, don't be like that." As she said this, Umbra stood up, moving closer towards the table. "The world may not have been a great place whenever you came from, but it's different now. It's still a rough situation, but Earth is still there. There are people out there willing to help out."

"Although we really should be trying to get back in contact with said people." Nel cut in, flying right next to Umbra's head. "I mean, we should still help Artyom get to safety, but it would be nice to call to the Tower for some backup. Even Sly or Keira-"

"Don't worry about them. They'll be fine." Umbra said.  _She doesn't seem very confident in that_ , Artyom thought, watching her shift nervously. "We can only focus on one thing at a time. For now, it's getting to this Polis place. And for that-"

Artyom suddenly found Umbra's helmet directly in front of his face. Her hands were gripped tight onto his shoulders, and he started to feel incredibly nervous.

"We need to get you some guns, my friend."

* * *

"So what do you think of these guys?" Keira asked. "Think they're scavengers, or just drifters?"

Sly-3 wasn't sure if they were either. He'd dealt with his fair share of both back when he was first starting out as a Guardian. There were always those who wanted to try to tough it out outside the City's walls or thought that there was plenty of Golden Age technology to loot. It never ended well for either of those groups. They were always some combination of underequipped, underprepared, and overconfident, thinking that they could deal with whatever horrors Guardians fought against.

And because of that, they almost never got that far away from the City. Sure, there were always outliers, but those tended to be people who were actually aware of what they were going up against.

The three people they had found were clearly not expecting to find the Hive. Their uniforms were outdated and poorly-armored, none of them had any guns or explosives, and they didn't even have any communications equipment on them. If they really had come from the City, they should have been wiped out long before they ever reached this place.

And yet, despite the state of their gear, the radiation on the surface, the Hive, and the bizarre creatures that seemed to infest this place, these three people had not only managed to survive, but had snuck into a Hive ritual chamber  _in the middle of a ritual_.

Even the most suicidal and idiotic scavengers and drifters knew that, whenever aliens like the Hive or the Fallen were around, it was best to just try and avoid them. Either these guys had no idea what the Hive even were, or they were some of the unluckiest people he had even encountered.

"…I think they might be something else." Sly said.

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Their gear is in no state to survive the trip here, they're unarmed, and this place is…well…"

"A complete and utter hellhole that makes the Cosmodrome seem civilized in comparison?"

"Yeah, that."

"So you're saying there's no way they should be alive right now."

"Yep."

"Not to mention the fact that they're only speaking in Russian."

"Not quite as weird as the fact that they're still breathing, but yes, that too."

He had been surprised when he had first heard it, but he hadn't given it much thought at the time. After all, they were in Old Russia. He was just glad that they had tried to learn some different languages back in the Tower.

_Hopefully Umbra's doing alright,_  he thought.  _Too bad she always thought those classes were boring._

They could have just used their Ghosts to help translate, but Sly was reluctant to bring them out just yet. Something told him that it might be a bad idea to reveal them to the strangers.

He heard Keira sigh behind him. "Figures this mission would get weird. Well, we're nearing the end of the hallway now. We can ask them more about this once we get back to the ships."

Indeed, he saw a doorway ahead of them, complete with a battered door still hanging on one hinge. Gingerly stepping through the opening, he quickly checked both sides of the dilapidated subway tunnel with his rifle. He was happy to see there weren't any Hive or strange creatures waiting for them this time.

The others soon spilled out behind him, with the three strangers still trying to keep their distance from both Keira and him. Two of the men were glancing around the tunnel nervously for a weapon or escape route. The third one just looked wary, trying to keep both Guardians in his sights.

Oh, this was going to be fun.

"Alright, we should be safe for the moment. The Hive won't go too far from their territory once a ritual's going on, and it doesn't look like anything else is around." He said, addressing everyone in the group.

"'Hive'? You mean those monsters back there?" One of the strangers asked.

That answered one question, at least. Too bad it raised a few dozen more.

"You're saying that you have no idea what the Hive are?" Keira asked.

"Why would we? They just showed up out of nowhere a few days ago and started wiping us out! They even took over the Theater-"

The other two men quickly moved forward, hushing their companion while sending suspicious looks towards Keira. It looked like they were whispering something together, but he couldn't quite make it out. Frowning, Sly moved forward to break them up but was stopped by a hand on his arm. Looking back, he saw Keira shaking her head at him.

"Back off for now, Sly." She said, switching over to English.

"But why? We need to figure out what's going on, and it's clear they know something." He said, gesturing towards the strangers with his free arm.

"Look, it's obvious they don't trust us. Anything we get out of them right now is either going to be vague or a lie." She shrugged again. "Let's just keep going. We load them up on the ships, get back to the Tower, and try to hash things out there."

"No." He said, shaking off her arm. "We're not leaving without Umbra."

"Shit, you're right." Keira mumbled. He understood her frustration. On the one hand, they needed to bring these people to a safe location. On the other hand, there was no way they could simply leave their friend behind. It would have been different if they were able to talk with her, but something had blocked off all of their communications just after they had started to fly over the city ruins.

Keira snapped her fingers. "Okay, okay. How about we get these people to the ships and try to raise the Tower on the long-range comms? That way we can ask for help, get these guys secured and still try to look around for her."

Sly nodded. Considering the circumstances, it was probably the best plan they could go with.

Turning back to the three strangers, he switched back to Russian. "Okay, we need to get going. Our ships are just on the surface. You'll be safe there."

The stranger in the greyish-blue coat shook his head. "And take a stroll through all of that radiation without a gas mask? We'll pass."

Sly felt like slapping himself. He'd completely forgotten about the radiation with everything else going on. Unfortunately, they were all just out of transmat range, and he didn't quite trust the strange men enough to let them wear his armor.

Sighing, he turned back to Keira. "Do you mind staying here and keeping an eye on these guys? I'll go out to the ships and try to get them in range."

"Sure." She shrugged, turning back towards the rest of the group. "I don't mind a break. It's nice when you don't have to shoot anything for a few minutes."

Ignoring the confused faces on the strangers, Sly moved further down the tunnels. If he could just find the access ladder they had used before, the ships would only be a block away. Hopefully things would get better once they could get in contact with the City.

* * *

It was kind of nice to bring out some of her old weapons again.

Sure, the equipment she had now was far superior to the gear she had scrounged during the early days. If she had the choice, she would always stick to her more recent acquisitions instead of going back to the more basic gear.

However, there was just something special about your first gun that you never quite forgot.

Artyom seemed to agree with her, going over the Khvostov 7G-02 with a surprisingly experienced hand. She had gone over several different rifles with him, trying to figure out the best fit for him, before finally deciding on that ancient weapon. It was a little odd that he didn't want to go for something more advanced, like a Galahad or a Shingen, but Artyom appeared to be fine with the situation. He said that it wasn't that different from an 'AK', whatever that was supposed to be.

To be honest, she was just glad that he didn't freak out as much this time around when she had transmatted it in his hands.

The other weapons he had picked out were similarly basic compared to her normal arsenal, choosing a Duke Mk.10 hand cannon and a Silver Dollar Mk.35 shotgun. She had forgotten she had even had those left around until now.

Again, she had tried to see if he could use some of the better equipment in her Vault, but he had been the most comfortable with the basic gear. It was honestly a little frustrating seeing Artyom using equipment that even rookie Guardians were quick to move away from when she had so many other,  _better_ options available for him, but she didn't want to force him to pick a different gun.

Still, at least Artyom seemed to be happier now that he was armed. He'd stopped twitching and glancing around the room. Instead, he was going over his new weapons thoroughly, trying to get familiar with them before they left the safety of their little hideout.

Which led to another problem they had to sort out.

"So you're saying you don't know how to get back to Polis?" Umbra asked, checking over her own weapons.

"I'm saying I don't know the  _exact_  route back. The tunnels are a far cry from what they were twenty years ago, and a lot of paths have collapsed." Artyom shrugged, still looking over his new shotgun. "Odds are good we'll have to improvise, maybe go across the surface."

Umbra frowned. "You mean the surface that's completely covered in lethal amounts of radiation and hordes of mutants? How the hell are you planning to get through all of that?"

Artyom turned to face her, eyebrow raised. "The radiation's no problem as long as I have filters for my gas mask. The mutants are a bigger concern, but I've dealt with them before."

"With an injured leg?"

He just shrugged again. "I've had worse. Besides, I've seen you fight. If you can take out an entire swarm of those Hive bastards, you should be able to deal with the Watchmen and the demons."

Umbra paused, turning to stare back at Artyom incredulously. " _Demons_?"

"Or bitches, depending on who you're talking to."

Turning to face her, Artyom must have noticed how confused she looked. "Sorry, just a joke. They're big, bat-like creatures that fly around and drag off people that stay in the open too long. They take a lot of ammunition to kill off, so fighting isn't usually the best option. Stay close to cover when they're around and you should be fine."

That sounded kind of horrifying, actually. Now that she thought about it, most of the things she'd had to fight before were stuck walking on the ground like her. Well, if they ended up having to deal with them, she still had her rocket launcher ready.

"And the 'Watchmen'?

"Big, furry creatures that roam in packs on the surface. They're not a big threat on their own, but that's rarely the case. If they show up, either run or form a circle." Artyom finished looking over the shotgun, slinging it over his shoulder and drawing out the revolver. "Either way, fighting on the surface is best done at a distance."

"Sounds like a plan." She replied, standing up. "Are you all good on ammo?"

"I think so. It still feels like you're giving me too much, though. Won't you run out?"

"Don't worry," Nel said, flying past Artyom's shoulder. "I can just make more for you two if you start to run low."

Artyom stared at Nel, looking like he wanted to ask another question. Eventually, he simply slid off the table and started to move unsteadily towards the door, muttering something under his breath as he went.

Nel moved back towards Umbra's shoulder. "Are you sure he'll be okay?" She whispered. "I still don't think he should be moving around that much."

"It'll be fine." Umbra replied, trying to hide her own concern. "We just have to deal with a couple giant batmen and a bunch of dogs. We've handled worse before."

Catching up to Artyom, the two of them slowly opened the door, waiting for any stragglers that may have been waiting outside. Aside from a few rats, however, the tunnel was empty. There was no sign that the Hive had caught up, or that other mutants had taken shelter nearby.

Readying their weapons, the two walked out of the saferoom, taking the first steps on the road to Polis.


	6. Change of Plans

The walk through the tunnels had, thankfully, been fairly peaceful so far.

True, there had still been the occasional creature that wanted to take a bite out of them, but there hadn’t been any signs of the bigger packs that had attacked her before. Even then, with both Artyom and herself armed and alert, they never got too close.

The extra light from Artyom’s flashlight was also a nice bonus. Between him and Nel, they had more than enough light to spot enemies and steer clear of rubble. The creepy, intimidating presence the tunnels had given off when she had first arrived had also gone down to a much less noticeable level. At this point, it wasn’t any worse than going through some of the old tunnels in the Cosmodrome.

In fact, with the extra company and the relative peace, the walk was almost pleasant. Too bad it wasn’t quite enough to let her forget that she was in a city that had been ripped forwards several centuries into the future. That would still take a while to stop being weird.

“I wonder if Keira’s figured out what’s going on…” Umbra mused. Hell, if Umbra had come up with the idea already, Keira had probably already figured out what Hivemind had been messing around with time and come up with a plan to try and stop them.

“Keira? Who’s that?” Artyom asked.

“A member of my squad. Keira, me, and a guy named Sly were sent here to figure out why this stretch of Old Russia was suddenly radioactive. We all flew here together, but…” She didn’t want to think about what had happened. It wasn’t just the fact that Sly and Keira were now missing, although that was definitely a major part of it. When she looked at that red star, when her mind just _stopped_ without her realizing it…

Time travel and nukes could explain a lot about what had happened to this place. Those were normal. Explainable. Whatever was going on at that building was something else entirely. Something seemingly separate from Light and Darkness.

Something inherently _wrong._

“Don’t worry. I’m sure they’re fine.” Artyom said, bringing Umbra out of her thoughts. “Hell, if they’re the same as you, I can only think of a few things down here that could be too much for them to handle.”

That…wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear. It was still somewhat comforting, but the way he said it was enough to make her cautious.

“And those things would be?” Umbra asked.

“Anomalies, for the most part. Ghosts of the dead, visions, balls of electricity, that sort of thing.”

“Um, excuse me, what?” Umbra and Nel asked in unison.

Artyom turned to look at them. Even with his helmet on, Umbra could feel how bemused he was at the situation. “Really? Time traveling robots and magic-wielding aliens are fine, but _ghosts_ are too difficult to believe?”

“But those are-“”Then why were-“ Nel and Umbra both stuttered, trying to talk over each other.

Artyom just chuckled, turning back to face the tunnel. Umbra couldn’t even fault him for acting this way, considering the way he had reacted when she had told him about the rest of the solar system. Too bad that didn’t make it any less annoying.

Shooting a quick glare at Nel, Umbra moved closer to Artyom. “Okay, I’ll admit that you sound just as insane to me as I probably do to you. _However,_ ” she quickly interjected, spotting Nel about to make another comment, “seeing as how I don’t think you’re lying, I’ll bite. How do we deal with those things if we run into them?”

“It depends.” Artyom shrugged. “For most of them, just keep your distance whenever possible. A friend of mine once told me that these phenomena aren’t inherently evil. I don’t think that’s true for all of them, but it’s true that a lot of them won’t bother you so long as you don’t get too close to them.”

Umbra scoffed. Yeah, sure, these things weren’t evil. And the Prison of Elders was the perfect place for a picnic. “And if we end up getting too close?”

Artyom hesitated for a second before replying. “Then you’ll just have to hope that it’s nothing serious, and that I’ll be able to snap you out of it.”

“…That’s it? You’re saying that’s literally all I can do?”

“Unless you have some sort of innate resistance to this sort of phenomena, then yes.”

She was about to argue that, yes, she should be able to resist stuff like that, but she couldn’t quite shake the doubts in her mind. Being infused with Light offered, among other things, resistances to things that most would consider fatal. However, it hadn’t seemed to do anything against whatever had affected her in the ship.

“And what about you?” Nel spoke up. “How is it that you’ll recover before Umbra?”

Artyom, however, didn’t respond. He simply slowed down, shouldering his rifle and looking ahead of them. Trying to snap out of her self-doubt, Umbra turned to where he was looking. Ahead of them, a massive pile of rubble filled the tunnel completely, with a small slope leading towards what used to be the ceiling. From the hole above, a few thin beams of sunlight blended in with the glow of their flashlights, filling the tunnels with a strange radiance and allowing them to clearly see the extensive damage to the passageway.

“Didn’t you say this tunnel was intact?” Artyom asked nervously. As he spoke, he quickly pulled out a strange-looking gas mask and placed it onto his head. It didn’t look like much, especially with how fragile the glass in it looked, but he had been adamant that it would let him survive the radiation above.

“It was fine a few hours ago…” Umbra replied. As she looked at the debris, trying to figure out what could have caused the tunnel to collapse, she could feel a sense of dread start to grow inside of her. Even if the tunnel had been crumbling and dilapidated a few hours ago, there was no way it could have collapsed like this just from normal wear and tear.

Sighing, Artyom cautiously advanced up the slope. “Shit. Well, I guess it’s back to the surface for us.”

* * *

 

The wait was starting to get on Keira’s nerves.

It was fine that Sly hadn’t contacted her yet. After all, even their short-range comms equipment was spotty at best in these ruins. But did it really take _twenty minutes_ to walk a block away?

Keira sighed in frustration. Deep down, she knew that it wasn’t really Sly’s fault that the mission had gone to shit. That didn’t stop her from wanting him to _hurry the hell up_ so they could actually contact some help. All she wanted to do was get some other fireteams down here, burn out the Hive, and get back to her apartment for a nice nap.

Well, that and find out what had happened to Umbra.

Keira still couldn’t figure out where she had ended up. All of them had been flying over the ruins in formation when they first arrived, but when Sly and her had picked out a good landing spot, Umbra had just kept flying further on. They’d tried to contact her, but they had only briefly managed to reach Nel, who had said they’d catch up with the rest of them later.

But even if Umbra had gone off flying over the rest of the city, she should have caught up with them by now! There’s no way she would have missed their ships, and from there the access hatch was only a small walk away! There was no way they could have missed running into each other, unless…

”…Of _course_ she’d pick the other way down the tunnel.” Keira muttered. All it would have taken was Umbra taking a left instead of a right before she was taken completely off-track. And with the interference playing hell with their comms equipment, there was no telling how far away she had ended up.

“Hey, did you say something?” A voice called out in Russian.

Keira glanced back towards the three strangers. By this point, all of them were just sitting by the side of the tracks. It was hard to say whether they looked more suspicious, bored, or sullen, but they were pulling off a bit of all three pretty well at the moment.

“Just thinking out loud, don’t mind me.” Keira replied. At least these new people hadn’t been much trouble to look over so far. The Hive had seemingly lost their trail in the maintenance tunnels, and there was no sign of them moving around the tracks yet.

As for the men themselves, they didn’t really seem like much of a threat at the moment. It was obvious that they didn’t trust Sly or herself, but they hadn’t tried to do anything so far. Too bad that was probably just because she was the only one present with a gun.

Finally, her need for a distraction got the best of her.

“…So what’s the deal with you guys?” Keira asked.

All three of the strangers turned to look at her. “…What do you mean?” One of them replied.

“Well, you’re clearly not drifters or scavengers, considering how far from the City you are and your reactions to the Hive. You’re unarmed, but at the same time, you two,” she said, pointing at the two others, “look like you’ve got some sort of old military gear equipped.”

The man chuckled. “Yes, because I’m sure the mutants usually let their prisoners keep guns on them.”

Keira paused. “Prisoners? Wait, you guys were _captured_ by the Hive?”

“Why do you keep calling them that? Have you run into them before?” He asked, clearly trying to avoid answering her question. It was obvious that she wouldn’t get any straight answers out of them at this point, so she decided to go with a different approach.

“Look, I get it. You don’t trust us. To be honest, you guys are weirding us out too. We don’t have any idea who you’re supposed to be, and it looks like it’s the same with you. Hell, I don’t even know what your names are.”

The three men glanced at each other before turning back to her. It looked like they hadn’t even thought about the name situation yet. Although, to be fair, she’d also been ignoring that problem for a while. Running from an entire city’s worth of Hive tended to put most other problems on the backburner.

Leaning forwards, Keira snapped her fingers. “How about an icebreaker? I’m Keira. The other guy with me is named Sly.”

After a few moments of awkward silence, the man in the blue jacket spoke up. “…Not the worst thing you could force us to reveal, I suppose. I’m Pavel. My comrades here are Anton,” he said, pointing towards the stranger in the khaki uniform, “and Titov.” His arm shifted, now pointing at the man in the spotted camouflage. Anton and Titov seemed uncomfortable with the situation, but neither one looked like they were willing to go against Pavel.

“Awesome. Now that we’re all acquainted…”

She left the sentence unfinished, pausing as she heard something strange from up above. It almost sounded like…was that gunfire?

At that moment, a tremor rippled through the tunnel, sending debris and dust flying throughout the cramped corridor. Her helmet helped with the worst of the sudden clouds of detritus, but the others weren’t so lucky. Trying to steady herself, Keira could hear the rest of them coughing and sputtering behind her.

She could barely make out something jumping down the service ladder nearby. Before she could bring her rifle to bear on it, she could see the telltale glow of a Ghost zip next to it. As the dust began to settle, the armored figure of Sly quickly straightened out.

“We’ve got some big problems headed this way!” He hurriedly shouted out, jogging over to the rest of the group.

“Wait, Sly, what’s going-“ Keira started to ask, but was interrupted by Sly pushing her further down the tunnel.

“No time! The Hive’s right above us, and they’re angry!” Sly yelled. “They’ve even got Ogres up there tearing the place apart!”

“ _Ogres_? What are they doing up there?” This wasn’t good. Ogres were powerful enough to break through Golden Age barriers. Against the relatively primitive, fragile concrete structures within the ruins, it would be like tearing through tissue paper for them.

Sly flinched, turning back to face her. Even with his head covered up by a helmet, it was obvious from his body language that whatever happened was bad.

“They were busy tearing apart our ships.” Sly muttered.

* * *

 

 “Wait a second.” Artyom whispered, crouching down behind a wrecked van. He could hear Umbra move into position besides him, but he tried to ignore her for the time being. His attention was focused off in the distance.

“What’s going on?” Umbra asked.

“I think I heard something off in the distance.” He replied, aiming his rifle down the street. “Maybe an explosion.”

Artyom knew that the surface was rarely a peaceful place. Between the countless packs of mutants roaming around, stalkers looking for salvage, and different groups establishing outposts on the surface, it wasn’t unusual to hear the sounds of combat off in the distance. There were simply too many creatures trying to cut out their own pieces of the city, regardless of the danger.

However, even though gunshots and the roars of animals were fairly commonplace aboveground, explosions were a rarity. There was a simple reason for that; the more noise you make, the more attention you bring on yourself. Grenades and pipe bombs may be useful for taking down small groups of Watchmen, but when excess noise caught the attention of larger packs hiding further away, they were rarely worth using.

Leaning to the side of the van, Artyom noticed that he had not been the only one to hear the sudden noise. Scattered packs of Watchmen flowed out of the decrepit buildings nearby, each of them rushing towards whatever unfortunate soul had caught their attention. Part of him wondered if these were the same ones that had so recently chased him to the Theater.

Peeking back towards Umbra, he was glad to see that she was taking the threat seriously. Instead of gawking at the creatures, like many fresh stalkers, she was remaining crouched behind the engine block of the van with her own rifle ready. It was slightly concerning that Nel was nowhere to be seen, but Umbra didn’t appear worried about her missing companion.

Turning back to face the road, Artyom watched as the last of the Watchmen disappeared behind a nearby building. He waited a few more seconds, listening for the signs of approaching creatures, but he couldn’t detect anything else nearby.

“Okay, I think it’s safe. Let’s get going.” He said, standing up and stepping into the open. Umbra followed suit, and the two of them continued moving through the dozens of destroyed vehicles on the road. As he picked his was through the rusting piles of scrap metal, he couldn’t help but notice several half-eaten corpses dotted throughout the area.

Part of him grimaced, thinking about how close he had come to dying throughout the past few days alone. A separate part of him simply wanted to go and look at the bodies, in the hopes that they might be carrying something worthwhile.

Artyom sighed. This entire journey across the surface had been incredibly nerve-wracking, even when compared to an ‘average’ trip aboveground. Not only did they have to keep an eye out for demons, Watchmen, hostile stalkers, and anomalies, but now they also had to worry about the Hive potentially showing up. They’d barely even left the relative safety of the Metro tunnels, and already they had to deal with possible threats from every direction.

Still, he reflected, the situation wasn’t quite as bad as it could be. They had managed to avoid alerting any mutants thus far, and the area seemed to be clear of the Hive for the time being. The weather was also fairly calm at the moment, with no rain or fog to limit their vision. Instead, the sky was simply filled with clumps of dark grey clouds, with small rays of sunlight breaking through in some parts.

Sparing a look at his wristwatch, Artyom was pleased to see that he still had plenty of time before he needed to change his gas mask filters. He almost asked Umbra if she needed to change hers before remembering her helmet didn’t use them. It was a shame that she couldn’t give him any of her spare armor. Having the ability to traverse the surface without worrying about breathing in clouds of radiation would be a welcome change of pace.

He turned to face Umbra, planning to ask her more about her armor. Instead, he saw Umbra standing completely still, aiming a rifle back in the direction they had just come from. Looking further down the road, he felt his stomach drop as he caught what she was looking at.

Another pack of Watchmen was slowly crawling towards them, slinking between cars and the shattered storefronts of nearby buildings. He counted at least twenty of the creatures out in the open. Odds were good that there were at least double that number hiding out of sight, waiting for the two of them to get distracted.

“So, Artyom.” Umbra deadpanned, inching her way backwards. “Got any ideas?”

“Not without alerting every beast in the area to us.” He replied, bringing his own rifle to bear on the pack. “Either way, we’re in for a fight.”

Umbra looked back at him. “Do you think you’ll be alright?” She asked, glancing at his leg.

“It’s fine.” Artyom mumbled. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure about that. His leg had been acting up more since they had left the tunnels, forcing him to walk at a near-crawl. If Umbra and he were able to keep the Watchmen at a distance, it wouldn’t be a problem. If they got too close, however…

The lead Watcher suddenly let out a piercing howl, quickly followed by several others behind it. Artyom reacted quickly, firing at the closest creatures to him. Umbra let off her own volley next to him, sending molten streams of military grade rounds at the mutants. Several of the creatures fell as their rounds struck true, covering the nearby vehicles with blood and viscera.

As the first members of their pack fell, the rest of the Watchmen were quick to react, scurrying through the nearby debris and splitting up. More mutants climbed out of the nearby buildings, leaping onto the ground and sending their own howls of rage into the air.

Artyom switched from target to target, snapping off shots as quickly as he could. His rifle didn’t have the awe-inspiring rate of fire of Umbra’s, but it was still proving its worth against the creatures. It was accurate, powerful, and had a much more reasonable firing rate. All it needed was a few attachments and it could be a worthy replacement for his AK.

Unfortunately, despite their combined firepower, they were still forced to gradually fall back. Piles of Watchmen bodies formed on the street, but for every one of the creatures they killed, several more rushed out from nowhere to take its place. To make matters worse, he was running through his rifle ammunition rapidly, and with Nel nowhere to be seen, he wasn’t sure if he could get more.

“We need to fall back! Head for the buildings!” Artyom shouted, looking at the nearby structures. If they could make their way through the nearby buildings, there was a chance that they could lose the pack in the alleys and back streets. It wasn’t likely, but it was better than trying to fight off every mutant in the area.

“Go ahead! I’ll cover you!” Umbra yelled. She continued to fire at the horde of Watchmen, never taking her eyes off the target. Even with the situation spiraling out of control, it was clear that she would not let the mutants pass without a fight.

Artyom muttered a curse and rushed towards the nearest building. He hopped through the shattered windows, grimacing as he landed on his injured leg, and continued hobbling inside. The room itself wasn’t very defensible, offering only a few barren shelves and a small counter for cover. Instead, Artyom was focused on the door directly behind the counter.

Making his way behind the counter, Artyom shouted out to Umbra. “Get in here! There’s a way out back!” He twisted the door handle, threw open the door-

-and promptly found himself facing a group of Hive Thralls.


	7. Extra - Heavy Squad

The tunnels leading between the Reich and the Red Line were chaotic even in the best of times. Years of hatred and constant warfare had caused many of these passages to be fortified by both sides, trying to create an edge over their eternal opponents. Hundreds of meters of barbed wire, steel plates, and sandbags blocked access throughout the tunnels, backed by countless heavy weapons, searchlights, and guard posts.

Skirmishes and clashes meant that these fortifications were often put to the test, with both sides throwing men into the grinder on a near-constant basis. For as long as some could remember, all these efforts had done was nudge the lines slightly, with only one or two noteworthy exceptions.

As hordes of chitin-covered creatures flooded from the direction of what had been the Red Line's positions, however, Hans couldn't help but fear that the battle today would be one of those exceptions.

"Hans! Get that minigun firing, damn it! We're being overrun!" A rifleman shouted out. Moments later, that same rifleman was sent stumbling from the firing line with a thick cluster of jagged green crystals in his chest.

Trying to keep his arms from shaking too badly, Hans swept his minigun across the narrow bridge, sending tracers flying into the oncoming hordes. Several riflemen piled in besides him, adding their own firepower to the tenuous defensive line. It was a sight that would make even the Fuhrer proud, with the defenders of the Reich throwing everything they had at the enemy.

However, despite the tenacity of the Reich's soldiers and the casualties already sustained by the bizarre creatures, they were barely holding on. The previous assaults by the Red Line had already killed off many of the platform's defenders, and these new mutants seemingly had no end. Where once he had to take cover from rockets and machine gun fire, now Hans had to keep an eye out for flying crystals and massive burst of green and black energy.

And to make matters worse, it wasn't just this tunnel being attacked. From what he had heard before deploying to this checkpoint, it seemed like the entire Reich was being attacked either by this new threat or by people trying to flee from them.

_cli-cli-cli-cli-click_

Cursing, Hans hastily reached for another belt of ammunition. Even if the minigun was a difficult beast to handle, it was also their most effective weapon against these creatures. The other heavy machine guns had been knocked out half an hour ago, and the other soldiers were stuck with their rifles.

Another bolt of sickly blackish-green energy flew towards their position, striking one of the remaining forward guard towers. In a blast of heat and twisted metal, the entire structure broke apart, sending debris and bodies flying into the depths under the rails.

Finally, Hans managed to tug the belt into the weapon. As the barrels began to spin up once again, he glanced around, trying to take stock of how the others were doing.

It was a grim sight. Numerous wounded or dead men lay near the platform gate with only a handful of medics running between them. Hans' squad had fared no better; Hook had been killed a few minutes ago, and Diesel was struck by shrapnel almost as soon as they had arrived.

The soldiers still on the firing line weren't much healthier, with many having makeshift bandages covering fresh wounds. A few of them were either panicking or screaming, clutching empty rifles and begging for mercy. Even Hans was struggling against the strange 'weapons' these creatures were using, with only the thick ceramic and steel plates of his heavy armor keeping him safe from enemy fire.

And worst of all, they knew they would get no more help. Reinforcements had been prioritized for the surface outposts and the checkpoints near Tsvetnoy Boulevard, leaving the other positions to fend for themselves.

One of the riflemen jumped up, clinging onto one of their surviving officers. "W-we need t-to fall back! Please!" The man begged. "T-There's too many of them!"

"Get back to your position!" The officer shouted, kicking the soldier back to the barricade. "We have been given orders to hold this position, and we will! We will not let this subhuman filth push through us!"

' _And how the hell are we supposed to do that when more than half of us are dead?'_  Hans thought to himself. Even as he fired the minigun once again, another soldier went down nearby, clutching a jagged chunk of crystal in his neck. The men next to him ducked down behind cover, sending fearful glances to each other.

Hans tried to block out the hopelessness of the situation. He tried to focus on the roar of his minigun, the orders from the officer, and the ammo left in his belt. The dying men nearby, the shrieks of the mutants…all of it started to blur together. If he stopped to think about how bad the battle was going, he would have to consider retreating, and doing so would be suicide. If the mutants didn't get him, the firing squad would.

Another squad was caught in a burning blast of energy, sending limbs and viscera flying across the tracks. A section of the rails cracked and crumbled, sending a large group of mutants tumbling down into the darkness. More chaos, more madness, more bloodshed.

On the second set of rails, the situation was even worse. Their barricades had been cracked open at the beginning of the fight, and the defenders hadn't had time to repair them. As far as Hans could tell, only a handful of men had survived in those positions. There wasn't any way to help them without weakening the defenses at their own barricade.

As Hans' minigun ran out of ammo again, the sounds of the battle caught back up to him. The screams, the shrieks, the…laughter?

Glancing back, Hans saw another officer leaning over the platform's radio, smiling gleefully. "We're getting help after all! They're sending men, vehicles! A fucking Panzer!" He shouted, pumping his fists into the air.

Ragged cheers filled the air, along with a sense of determination. Hans couldn't help but feel relieved at the announcement. These creatures were tough, but they wouldn't be any match for a tank!

Indeed, even as the news was being spread, a new sound could be heard from the tunnels behind them. Instead of the sharp shrieks of the mutants or the bark of rifles, the new sound was a deep, powerful roar that reverberated across the station, growing louder and louder with each passing second.

A few moments later, with a great  _whoosh_  of exhaust, a rocket flew past the second platform's barricade. It slammed into one of the larger mutants, detonating in an explosion that sent countless chunks of creatures and debris flying everywhere. The sound of DShK's firing quickly followed it, pulverizing the remaining mutants on that side of the tunnel and swiftly clearing the rails.

It was one of the most beautiful sights Hans had ever seen.

"Alright, men! Help has arrived! Now let's send these bastards straight to hell!" One of the officers cried out, following it up with another cheer. The other soldiers obeyed enthusiastically, throwing themselves back onto the barricades and unloading at the remaining hordes. In a matter of seconds, the last of the mutants had been wiped out, its torso ripped in half from concentrated firepower.

As the last corpse finally fell to the ground, many soldiers began to cheer and celebrate. Cries of "We did it!" and "For the Reich!" filled the air, and as the Panzer pulled forwards into the platform, the cries only got louder.

Hans didn't join them.  _'The enemy has stopped, we've got reinforcements…so why doesn't it_ feel _like we've won?'_  Hans wondered.  _'Why would they finally stop attacking right when we got reinforcements?'_

Some of the other soldiers seemed to be thinking the same thing. They continued to man their positions, staring out into the darkness beyond for any hint of those creatures. After almost an hour of continuous fighting, it seemed impossible for them to just melt away so suddenly.

As such, they were the first to notice when another deep, rumbling sound came from the  _enemy's_  side of the platform. It wasn't like the Panzer's engine, with a deep, continuous roaring. Instead, there was a beat to them. Spaced out, in even intervals.

'… _Holy shit, is that something_ walking? _'_

"Hey, get your asses back on the barricade! There's something else coming!" Hans shouted out, spinning the minigun back up. The few soldiers remaining quickly grabbed their weapons and ducked back into cover, cursing all the while.

All the while, the  _thump_ ing grew more and more pronounced. It eventually got to the point where the floor shook in time with the sounds, sending trickles of debris raining down from the ceiling. Hans could have even sworn that he heard more of those damned shrieks in the background, but he didn't want to believe that that was true.

' _There can't be that many more of them, right?'_

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, he received his answer.

Those other creatures…they were  _nothing_  compared to this monstrosity. It completely towered over the defenders, even scraping against the roof of the tunnel as it stormed forwards. Its massive, trunk-thick legs easily swept through the remains of the Red Line's former defenses, while its arms dug deep into the concrete walls to pull itself forwards. Its entire body seemed to be covered in thick plates of that disgusting chitin, with occasional spots of thick, purplish-grey muscle or skin beneath. And its face…

' _How the_ fuck _is that thing's face_  glowing _like that?'_  Hans thought, on the verge of panicking.  _'What kind of beast-'_

His thoughts were interrupted by the  _whoosh_  of another missile flying forwards. It managed to hit the monster directly in the torso, covering the opposite side of the platform in a thick layer of smoke and dust. As the clouds billowed outwards and the explosion died down, the platform was filled with silence as the soldiers held their breath. For a few moments, there was nothing…

Before a massive, earth-shattering  _ **ROAR**_  broke apart the clouds, revealing the beast in all its inhuman horror.

The missile had clearly done some damage. The beast's torso had a massive black mark on it, and a noticeable chunk of armor and flesh had been blown away.

And yet, despite how these missiles had been able to blow apart Red Line  _armored trains_  in the past, the creature was still standing tall. If anything, it only looked angrier.

Besides him, Hans could see some of the soldiers nearby hastily take aim at the beast. Rifles and machine guns opened fire, sending an entire station's worth of ammunition flying at the monster. Most of the rounds simply bounced off or impacted the thick armor, while those that hit flesh barely seemed to bother the mutant.

All the while, its skull continued to glow brighter, with more and more energy coalescing around the beast's face. Hans tried to aim his Gatling at the mutant's skull, but his bullets almost seemed to disappear as soon as they reached the swirling pool of energy, only rippling the swirling mass as-

_**GROOOAAAH** _

An impossibly bright beam of light suddenly surged out, flying towards the Panzer and instantaneously illuminating it.

For a fraction of a second, Hans watched as the vehicle's armor buckled and melted into a worthless, lumpen mass. The steel plates glowed in a horrifyingly vivid orange, crumpling under the sudden forces it was subjected to.

_**KA-BOOOOOM** _

And then the tank was no more. The ruined, molten hull of the tank was sent flying throughout the platform as its ammunition stores detonated, killing everyone nearby. A massive, scorching cloud of smoke and dust quickly filled the tunnel, obscuring everything from view in a choking miasma.

Nearby, Hans heard the shouts and curses of the nearby riflemen trying to figure out what happened, and the hoarse coughs of the officers trying to restore order. However, there were two other sounds that he paid more attention to.

The sounds of the other rail line completely collapsing, sending everyone and everything on that platform into a fatal fall.

And the  _ **ROAR**_  of the monster, backed up by the nightmarish shrieks of the other mutants they had so recently fought against.

Hans stumbled, trying and failing to hold onto the minigun. Dimly, he felt a warm trickle begin to move down his side, and small pinpricks of pain near his chest. He saw inhuman shapes appear within the smoke, and could make out screams from right next to him. As he collapsed to the ground, vaguely feeling the shifting of countless spent casings beneath him, only one thought went through his mind as he drifted off into darkness.

' _Nothing can stop them.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, sorry that the next update's taken so long to come out. Life/motivation issues, mostly. Don't worry, this story isn't dead, although updates might be slower than before. The next chapter should be up over the weekend. In the meantime, here's a bit of filler for y'all based on the DLC levels.


	8. Roadblocks

Umbra couldn’t help but be slightly concerned with the situation.

She’d just finished shooting what had to have been the twentieth mutant in just the past minute, adding on to the growing pile of bodies in the snow-covered street, and they still showed no signs of stopping. Even as she finished slamming a fresh magazine into Doctor Nope, another group of five dove out of the nearby buildings, howling in rage seemingly at her mere presence.

The only good thing about the situation was that they were only coming from the one direction. Even if the street wasn’t the best chokepoint, it was enough to keep these creatures from getting too close.

Still, she was a little annoyed that she hadn’t stocked up on Glimmer before heading out. With the rate she was using up ammunition, she might have to resort to using some of the local weaponry before too long. Considering the examples of that she’d seen so far, it wasn’t an exciting prospect.

“Um, Umbra?” Nel asked.

“Little busy right now!” Umbra shouted, letting loose another burst of fire at the slowly growing horde.

“Well,” Nel hesitated, “Are you sure you should let Artyom move ahead on his own? With his leg-”

“I’m sure he’s fine! He’s just looking for a way out of here!”

And, just as Umbra finished saying that, she heard Artyom shouting out from behind her. Glancing back, she saw that he was waving at her from the ruins of a nearby store.

“Hang in there, I’m falling back!” She yelled, slowly walking backwards. As she did, one mutant seemed to take this as a sign that they were winning, climbing up onto a nearby vehicle and roaring yet again. She quickly shifted her sights onto the creature’s skull, blowing it away with a quick burst.

“Umbra, I think he needs some help!” Nel said, more worriedly than before.

“What do you mean?” Umbra asked, frowning as she tried to listen. She could hear Artyom shouting slightly louder from behind her, sounding a little hysterical. Oddly enough, she could also hear some sort of banging noise from nearby, along with…was something shrieking?

“Oh, fuck.” Umbra muttered, spinning around and sprinting towards Artyom. Did the Hive _really_ have to show up while they were already in the middle of a firefight with something else?

Looking further into the store, she could see that Artyom was leaning against a battered and dented door, desperately trying to hold it shut. The thin, chitin-covered arm of a Thrall was thrashing wildly between the door and the doorframe, keeping him from closing the entrance completely. He didn’t look like he’d been clawed, thankfully, but it was only a matter of time before the Hive broke through.

Worse still, as Umbra leaped through the ruined windows of the building, she could clearly hear the roars and footsteps of the mutants behind her. Even if she could help close the door, they’d have to deal with the seemingly never-ending horde of dog-like creatures outside.

Right as she reached Artyom, she saw the door begin to buckle as the Thralls piled up on the other side. Artyom stumbled back, letting the door slide open a few more precious inches, before shoving himself back against the entryway. At this rate, it would only be a matter of seconds before they finally got in.

Making a quick decision, Umbra reached out and grabbed Artyom’s arm. “Hang on!” She shouted, pulling Artyom off towards the side.

The second Artyom left the door, the Thralls quickly tore their way into the building, shrieking and barreling past each other. One of them leapt onto the counter, pointing a gnarled and cracked hand at the two of them while letting out an ear-splitting cry.

“W-wait!” Artyom tried to shout out.

“We don’t have time! Just hang on!” Umbra yelled back. She hastily tugged Artyom behind a nearby shelving unit, pushing him behind the makeshift cover. Right as he fell behind the thin metal barrier, Umbra turned back to the rapidly approaching group of Hive, her hands trying to gather enough Solar energy to prepare a grenade-

Only to watch as, out of nowhere, the leading Thrall was tackled over by a leaping mutant, sending both of them crashing into the wall. More quickly followed it, with the group of dog-like mutants slamming into the smaller group of Hive.

The room quickly devolved into a messy, visceral brawl as both groups attempted to tear each other limb from limb. The mutants were trying to bite and crush the Thralls through their sheer weight, while the Hive began to furiously maul the new arrivals. Splashes of blood flew everywhere, quickly coating the walls, the floors, and even part of Umbra’s helmet before she ducked behind the shelf.

“Oh, come _on!_ ” Umbra muttered, wiping her head with her free hand. “Are you _serious_ right now?”

“Are you okay? What’s going on?” Artyom asked. It was a bit difficult to tell through his gas mask, but he seemed like he was pretty nervous.

“It’s fine. Everyone over there decided they hate each other more than us.” Umbra said. “It’s getting messy, but they’re distracted for now.”

He nodded, gripping his Khvostov tightly. “Alright, then let’s go.”

Thankfully, even though Artyom’s leg made sneaking around more difficult, neither the Mutants nor the Hive were paying them any more attention. From the horrifying sounds that Umbra made out, it seemed like both groups of them were literally being ripped apart. The occasional splash of blood or _thump_ of a torn limb landing nearby only helped with that assessment.

Finally, after several moments of sneaking behind ruined shelves, they were able to crawl out one of the broken windows of the storefront. Amazingly, it seemed that the previously endless flood of mutants that had been chasing them had finally ended. The entire street was empty now.

Well, besides the dozens of giant dog corpses littering the block, but they didn’t count anymore.

“Okay,” Artyom whispered, glancing at the violently-packed store behind them. “Let’s get moving.”

Umbra started to nod, but stopped as the sound of shattering glass echoed out from nearby. Looking back, she saw that one of the mutants had been thrown outside of the store, leaving it as a mangled pile of bleeding flesh. Worse still, the howling and shrieking from inside sounded like it was starting to die down.

 _The second they stop killing each other, they’re going to head after us again._ Umbra thought, hissing in frustration.

“Hang on, let me slow them down.” Umbra said, once again pulling together an orb of Solar energy in her hands.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Artyom hastily whispered, glancing around at the nearby buildings.

Umbra didn’t reply, simply tossing the glowing ball of energy through the shattered windowpane. The fighting inside seemed to calm down for a single second before the incendiary grenade detonated, completely filling the dilapidated room with bursts of flame and superheated air. The few remaining windows in the building quickly blew out, sending debris flying out into the street.

“There!” Umbra cheerfully said. “Now we can get moving!”

She didn’t receive any reply. Looking behind her, she saw Artyom staring confusedly at the thick smoke and burning wreckage of the building.

“Uh…Artyom, you okay?” Umbra asked, glancing at Nel for help. Instead, she just saw the Ghost mirroring Artyom, looking directly at the blazing remains of the store.

“…Did you have to set _another_ building on fire?” Nel asked, whirring in exasperation.

In response to that, the building slowly started to collapse in on itself, sending burning boards flying out between the rusting cars on the streets. The groaning of tons of crumbling bricks and twisting planks filled the air, as the entire structure started to fall apart.

“How did you…right, stupid question.” Artyom muttered, shaking his head. “Let’s get out of here before more creatures show up.”

And so, they quickly ran down the street, trying to ignore the distant sounds of howling and shrieking in the distance.

* * *

As Sly tried to hurry the others down the tunnel, he couldn’t help but reflect on what had just happened aboveground.

First, there had been the fact that he wasn’t able to connect to his ship at all once he got aboveground. Block after block, no matter how close he was getting, it seemed that the transmat function just would not work for him. He’d had to dodge several Hive patrols, not to mention the other unpleasant inhabitants of this place, in order to finally get to their ships.

Then there was the fact that, once he finally got to their landing spot, he had been spotted by two angry-looking Ogres in the middle of destroying the entire block. Their ships had been torn into scrap, along with half a dozen nearby buildings as they rampaged around. It had been a miracle that those things hadn’t brought the entire subway tunnel down on top of them as he returned.

However, worst of all was the fact that he hadn’t managed to get a message out to the Vanguard. Even if he had taken out the Ogres, there was no way he could make it out of the ruins of this city with the sparking wreckage of his Jumpship.

They were completely alone out here. The Hive were rampaging around freely, more people were at risk, and the City had absolutely no idea what was going on.

He gradually became aware of Keira calling out to him.

“Sly!” She shouted, jogging up to his side. “Look, what happened up there doesn’t matter right now! We can find another way to contact help once we got somewhere safe!”

“But the City-“

“Already knows we’re here!” She interrupted. “And when we don’t report back to them, they’re going to send in another team to help us!”

 _But_ when _will they get here?_ Sly thought. True, whenever fireteams went dark during a mission, other teams were usually sent out to go figure out what happened, and to try and assist the previous Guardians in their mission. Unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly a secret that they almost never got there in time to help out if something went wrong.

And with an unknown, rapidly growing Hive infestation in the middle of nowhere, he wasn’t confident that the cavalry would be arriving in time to save the day. At this rate, the rescue team themselves might not even be safe when they finally arrived.

Sly stole a glance at the people they had tried to help out. Thankfully, even though they were clearly struggling to keep up, none of them were falling behind. It was probably just because they didn’t want to be torn to shreds by the Hive, but it was nice not having to shove them along like before.

Keira seemed to agree, turning towards the rest of the group and calling out. “Hey, Pavel! You guys know about any place nearby we can hold up?”

“Eh, maybe?” The man shrugged. “Polis…I hate to say it, but at this point, it may be our best bet. There’s no way we can get back to Revolution from here, with all of those bastards behind us.”

“N-no way anyone’s alive back that way.” Titov wheezed out. “Shit, there must have been thousands of those things by that station.”

“There’s a chance they’re holding out, although I’m not so sure myself.” Anton added. “We’d gotten plenty of soldiers assembled there in the past few days, but-”

“They had enough supplies and men there to hold out.” Pavel hurriedly interjected. “Look, we can try and get in contact with them later, but…we might as well head to Polis for the time being.”

 _Assembling soldiers? From where? And for what purpose?_ Sly wondered. That implied that there was some sort of military around here. If so, where were they now?

“Hey, do you guys mind if we slow down for a minute? We’ve been running for a while.” Titov asked, trying not to wheeze.

Sly glanced behind the group, looking for any signs of Hive activity. They hadn’t heard any groups of them for a few minutes now, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t around. _Too damn sneaky at times,_ he thought. _And in a place like this, there’s way too many places for them to pop out of._

“Sure, I guess.” Sly relented. “But be ready to start running again if I say so.”

The group slowed to a walk, the non-Guardians much more readily accepting the change. As they did so, Sly took the chance to take another look ahead of them. So far, the tunnels had seemed to blur together in a flow of crumbled concrete, rusted steel, and bodies of both humans and other creatures in various states of decay. The area they were in now was no different, save for a number of thick webs making the dark, dusty tunnels even harder to see in.

“Okay, so, this ‘Polis’ place. How far away are we?” Keira asked. Sly noticed that she was doing her best to avoid the thicker bundles of webbing. He didn’t blame her. _Seriously, this whole place is feeling like a haunted house at this point_ , he grumbled to himself.

“Shouldn’t be much further now.” Pavel responded. “We’ve managed to avoid the worst of the collapsed tunnels, and it looks like this path has been used recently.”

 _Really?_ “How can you tell?” Sly asked.

“The webs.” He replied. “Damn things are normally all over the place around here. Someone’s gone through them recently. Lucky for us, otherwise we’d have to deal with the spiders.”

_…Nope, I don’t want to know._

“So, assuming that nothing else tries taking a bite out of us, we should get there in about twenty minutes.” Pavel started to say-

**_BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BLAM_ **

Only to stop as a series of gunshots rang out from just ahead of them, sending bullets flying all around the group. Everyone quickly dove into cover, trying to duck behind the larger pieces of debris and rubble scattered around the tracks. As they did so, a spotlight turned on ahead of them, illuminating the entire area in blinding light.

Sly looked around, seeing that Pavel was taking cover next to him. Keira and Titov were staying behind a couple of empty barrels on the other side of the tracks, and Anton…

Anton was lying in the middle of the tracks, weakly clutching his bleeding stomach.

* * *

“Okay,” Artyom panted, slumping against a ruined car. “I think we’re safe for now.”

“Good. Seriously, how many of those things are in this fucking city?” Umbra muttered, leaning next to him.

“As far as I know? They don’t end.” He wheezed, glancing at his watch and frowning. The time left on his filters was getting somewhat low, with only about fifteen minutes left before they became ineffective. Hopefully they would find some spares before that became a problem.

 _As long as no more creatures show up to chase us away from them,_ Artyom thought. There hadn’t been any time to check during their escape from the burning store. They’d been busy trying to keep their eyes out for packs of Watchmen, Hive, or other threats that might have been attracted to the suddenly-rising smoke. Most of them had been avoidable, but there had been one or two groups they had been forced to fight or flee from.

Still, at least they were making good progress towards Polis. After hurrying their way through some of the ruined residential areas, Artyom had noticed that signs of recent Ranger activity were increasingly common. Emptied supply stockpiles, recently moved debris, and even the occasional set of footprints in the seemingly-eternal snows could be seen or found.

 _Could be bad, but this close to Polis, I doubt it’s more Nazis_ , he thought. At least, he hoped so. It had been a bad enough surprise running into them near the Botanical Gardens.

And even if the fire had made the way to civilization riskier for a few moments, it might work out to their benefit now that it was several blocks behind them. The smoke and noise would draw in more mutants that might have been in the way otherwise, leading them to each other and causing them to fight.

By now, they were nearly at one of the Order’s surface outposts, and from what Artyom remembered, this one had direct access to one of Polis’s entrances.

The only thing standing between them and safety was a massive, overgrown, heavily-irradiated park.

Artyom glanced at the wilderness nearby, seeing the flooded and collapsing pathways blocked behind a rusting metal fence. They probably wouldn’t be able to open the gate, but some sections looked sturdy enough to make climbing over the bars feasible.

“So, once we make it through there, we’ll have made it to Polis? And you’re _sure_ they’ll be willing to talk?” Umbra asked.

“It should be just through this park. We might have to deal with some more mutants along the way, but as far as I know, there’s nothing else between us and the access tunnel. After that, we talk to Miller, tell people what’s going on, and try to get a plan together.” Artyom replied, before turning towards Nel. “Just…try not to do anything too unusual, alright? Polis is hopefully going to be more accepting of you than most places would be, but…well, nobody’s seen anything like you before.”

“I’ll do my best. If necessary, I’ll just find somewhere to hide.” Nel said, bobbing up and down in the air.

Umbra nodded. “Cool. So how do you want to get through this fence?”

“We can just climb it. The area over by that gate looks stable enough.” Artyom replied.

“You sure?” Umbra asked. “I mean, with your leg and all…”

As if on cue, his leg throbbed in pain once again, reminding him of his recent injury. “Good point. Well…could you help lift me over?”

“Sure. Shouldn’t be a problem.” Umbra shrugged, turning to the fence. “I’ll pull you up once I get to the top.”

He nodded, turning back towards the street. After all, it never hurt to keep an eye out while-

“Alright, you ready?” Umbra asked, startling him.

“For what?” Artyom asked, glancing at the gate before blinking.

“To pull you up!” She said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she’d climbed over ten feet of twisted, rusting metal in less than two seconds. Instead, Umbra was simply holding her arm out to him, grabbing onto the top of the fence with her other arm.

“…Alright.” Artyom said, trying to shake the strangeness of the situation from his mind. It was simply more of the usual madness, apparently caused by her abilities as a ‘Guardian’. Unnatural grenades, teleportation, conjuration…he’d worry more about all of that when they weren’t on the surface.

 He reached out and grabbed onto Umbra’s hand, using it to pull himself up. Together, the two of them slowly started to roll over the fence-

**_GROOOOAH_ **

Before a deep, guttural, _loud_ howl in the distance startled both of them. Artyom nearly slipped off the fence, barely managing to keep a grip on a piece of slick, rusty steel. He turned around, trying to make out the source of the noise, but couldn’t see anything nearby.

Instead, off in the distance, several of the trees shook, sending small packs of birds flying off towards the nearby rooftops.

“What the hell…” Artyom muttered, lowering himself down to the ground. “That didn’t sound like a normal mutant…”

He paused, looking at Umbra and Nel as they landed besides him. Both of them seemed far more tense than normal, with Umbra hurriedly readying her rifle and Nel spinning around, trying to look at the entire park.

“Umbra?” Artyom asked. “Any ideas what that was?” He’d heard a few rumors of mutant bears around this area, but from the way the others were acting, he had the sinking suspicion that something worse was nearby.

“Yes.” Umbra replied, all traces of her former humor gone. “Stay close, stick to cover, and hope it’s one of the weaker ones. If an Ogre’s around here, well…”

She started to walk forwards, heading straight for the disturbance in the distance.

“Polis might not be around for much longer.”

* * *

 _Damn, not again!_ Pavel thought, hunkering behind cover. He stared at Anton’s groaning body, outlined starkly from the bright light of the spotlight. He’d bleed out if he was left there, but it would be impossible to grab Anton without opening himself up to further fire.

 _Shit, who is it this time?!_ He wondered, trying to come up with a plan. _Nazis? Bandits?_

“Wait, hold your fire!” An unfamiliar voice shouted out. “What the hell were you thinking?! Those are fucking humans!”

“Wait, what?” Pavel murmured.

Just as quickly as it turned on, the spotlight was swiftly shut off, replaced by a number of much less painful flashlights. A few dozen feet away, behind a series of hastily-erected defenses, a number of unfamiliar figures stood.

And from the torn, ragged clothing they wore, the tired bags under their eyes, and the awkward way they held their weapons, they were clearly refugees.

None of the people behind the small piles of sandbags and wood wore any kind of protective gear, save for a few dented metal helmets. Instead, most of them wore old, threadbare civilian clothing, with many of them covered in patches. The weapons they wielded were makeshift and cheap, a mix of revolvers, Bastards, and Shamblers.

Amazingly, it seemed like only one of them had fired, judging from the smoke lazily drifting from the barrel of his submachine gun. The shooter was clearly terrified and surprised, his weapon held shakily in his hands and his eyes wide open in shock.

“S-s-sorry! I-I’m sorry! I-I-I thought that-” He stuttered out, staring at the crumpled form of Anton.

“Give me that!” Another man, the apparent leader of the group, yelled. He quickly snatched the gun away before pushing the frightened gunman back. “Go back to the others and get Bershov to come up here! And tell him to bring his bag!”

The man quickly ran off, leaving the others milling awkwardly at their posts. The ‘officer’ turned to look at the newcomers, focusing on Keira and Anton in particular. Following his gaze, Pavel saw Keira hunched over Anton’s body, seemingly trying to treat his injuries.

“Shit, sorry about that! Our doctor is on the way, we’ll get him patched up!” The man grimaced, moving over towards them.

“Why did you shoot at us to begin with?” Sly angrily shouted back. “All we were doing was walking through the damn tunnel!”

The ‘officer’ flinched. “Look, I understand, this was a terrible accident that shouldn’t have happened. But we’ve been on the fucking rails all night trying to make our way to safety, running away from those new mutants. Our group barely got out of the Theater alive, and plenty of us have been picked off along the way.”

As the man spoke, the guard from before came sprinting back, along with another man in a doctor’s coat. The two quickly made their way over to Keira and Anton, with the doctor soon assisting in looking over Anton’s wounds. Titov, of all people, crouched next to them, silently handing out medical supplies as requested from a battered orange case. The trigger-happy guard stood beside them all, shaking in horror and guilt.

Seeing this, the ‘officer’ sighed. “Fucking Lev. He shouldn’t be on guard duty, but…well, we don’t have the numbers to pull him off.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Pavel asked. “What about station security, or the Red Army?”

“All gone. Either picked off in ambushes or cut off during the retreat. Now it’s just us left.” The ‘officer’ muttered. “About fifty of us in this caravan, with maybe twenty that can use a gun. The rest are untrained, wounded, or too young.”

 _He thinks the people he’s using now are_ trained? _Damn, they won’t stand a chance._ Pavel thought, sharing the ‘officer’s’ frown. True, they weren’t much further from the entrance to Polis, but if the ‘Hive’ showed up in the numbers they had before, this group would be slaughtered.

Sly seemed to share his thoughts, nodding in thought. “Alright, then there’s only one thing we can do. Once Anton’s ready enough to move, we’ll help escort you guys.”

The ‘officer’ started, his face shifting towards confusion. “W-what? I mean, we’d be happy for the help, but-”

“You guys are barely holding on, and we’ve got guns _and_ training. Sure, there was an accident, but it _won’t happen again_ , right?” Sly asked, shrugging his shoulders as the refugee guards nodded guiltily. “Then we won’t have a problem. Just make sure that guy apologizes once Anton’s up for talking.”

“Of course, of course.” The ‘officer’ agreed. “Um, do you need any ammo? What about guns? We don’t have much, but I think we could spare something for those two.”

“We’ll be happy to take some, my friend.” Pavel quickly nodded, trying to make sure Sly couldn’t refuse. It had been bad enough being unarmed with just the five of them, having to constantly run away from those creatures, but with a whole caravan to guard? They’d need the extra firepower.

 _Having a bit of insurance for the worst-case scenario doesn’t hurt either,_ Pavel mused, glancing back at Keira. Sure, she and Sly had helped them make it out of those ‘Hive’-infested tunnels, but they had done so practically at gunpoint.

The fact that he couldn’t tell which station they were from only made him more concerned. The only place he could think of was the Emerald City, and even then, that was mostly just based off the rumors about that place.

He tried to switch his thoughts as he was handed a revolver. _Not the right time to think about this,_ he mused. _If they say something, they’ll say something. Otherwise, General Korbut will have enough to worry about with everything else going on._

Looking back at Anton’s bleeding form, he winced. It seemed like the Red Line had suffered a lot of deaths and pain recently, whether by the Nazis or by the mutants. Sergeant Danya, the Theater, and now Anton…

Hopefully Korbut would know what to do.


	9. Breakthrough

As Artyom and Umbra made their way deeper into the ruined park, their pace quickly slowed to a crawl as the terrain deteriorated. Deep, boggy marshes made up the only ‘clear’ path through the wasteland, only navigable thanks to several markers left on more stable patches of land. The constant rainfalls that had hit Moscow over the past few days had seemingly only made the situation worse, with several dead trees tilted over precariously over small, washed-out outcroppings nearby.

The two of them skulked forwards in silence, constantly scanning the nearby ridges and reeds for any signs of movement. Evidence of possible threats was all over the place, with fresh tracks from both mutants and Hive clearly visible in the thick muck.

As Artyom glanced off towards another half-hidden alcove, he snuck a look at Umbra. Hearing _her_ of all people get nervous at the sounds of one of these creatures was worrying. She’d fought off the previous packs of Watchmen with the skill of a veteran Ranger, and he’d probably be dead from the Hive if she hadn’t been there to help him.

And considering her ability to literally create grenades and weapons out of thin air, anything that could make her worried was something he needed to be cautious about.

 _No point getting myself worked up over this,_ Artyom thought, trying to calm himself. _If we can’t fight it, we run. Same as with Pavel back before the Theater._

He shifted his rifle, setting his sights on a nearby patch of overgrown plants. The thick clumps of reeds and grasses made visibility a nightmare, and likely served as cover for any nearby mutants or aliens.

 _Probably hiding bodies as well, maybe with a supply cache or two,_ he mused. _Who knows what’s hidden around here at this point?_

His thoughts were interrupted by his boot sinking into the mud, causing him to stumble and nearly fall. Slimy, frigid water quickly made its way through his clothes, drenching his leg before he could tug it back out.

“Damn,” he murmured. “at least that wasn’t on the injured leg.”

**_GROOOOOOOOAH_ **

As another earthshaking groan echoed through the trees, Artyom quickly snapped his rifle upwards, pointing it towards the next bend. It looked like whatever creature was making that noise was getting closer every moment, to the point where the ground itself was vibrating.

“Alright, Artyom, we need a plan.” Umbra said, still moving steadily forwards. “I can deal with the Ogre and try to make sure it doesn’t cause too much damage. I want you to stay in cover, maybe take a potshot or two if you see an opening.”

“Are you sure?” Artyom began. “Whatever that thing is, it sounds pretty big-”

Umbra shivered. “They’re practically walking tanks. Not fun to deal with, especially if it’s one of the more powerful ones.”

“If that’s the case, then how are you planning on dealing with that? These rifles are good, but they’re still just rifles.”

“That’s what the rocket launcher is for.” Umbra stated.

Artyom blinked. “Wait, you’ve got rockets?”

Umbra nodded. “Some, but I’ve been saving them for a special occasion. Besides, most places around here don’t look like they’re very structurally sound. Didn’t want to end up buried alive before, or accidentally blow up an entire street.”

He couldn’t fault that logic. Even in some of the better-off stations, repairs and maintenance were often a round-the-clock process. The tunnels were often far worse, with even pipe bombs causing significant damage to the supports. If an actual rocket were used…

_If it can destroy a tunnel, surely it can kill whatever creature is ahead. Right?_

“Wait a second,” Nel said, floating forwards towards a nearby shrub. “I’ve found a human body here.”

“So…is it new? Because we’ve passed a _lot_ of bodies on our way here.” Umbra said, sounding somewhat unhappy.

Nel nodded, taking a more somber tone. “It’s fresh. Looks like whoever it was died less than an hour ago.”

 _Damn,_ Artyom cursed internally. _If only we had been a little closer!_

“He’s got a lot of gear on him, along with what looks like…some sort of grenades.” Nel continued.

“Grenades?” Artyom asked, moving closer to the hovering machine. While he preferred fighting silently when possible, grenades had saved his life on several occasions before. They weren’t always reliable, but they were still worth their weight in MGR’s in certain situations.

Nel bobbed up and down, turning back towards him. “If that’s what you call them, I suppose. Looks like a lot of pipe bombs, filled with metal shrapnel and basic explosives.”

As he got closer, Artyom took the time to look at the well-hidden corpse. Whoever it was had been wearing a heavy-duty radiation suit, probably from one of the more professional stalker teams that Polis liked to hire. Most of it was intact besides the helmet, which had been brutally cracked open. What was left of the stalker’s skull had been torn into pieces, showering the nearby muck with blood and gore.

Next to him, Artyom saw a small satchel with a small plastic case sticking out of it. Gingerly taking it, he saw that it was, indeed, a makeshift grenade. Looking into the bag, it seemed like the entire pack was filled with more of the explosives, along with bundles of wire, string, and several lighters.

_He must have been trying to mine the paths up here. But why? It’s not like it would have kept the creatures up here at bay for long._

While he wondered about the stalker’s mission, he took the time to check the body for supplies. The ammunition he carried wouldn’t work with any of the new guns Umbra had given him, and the filters, sadly, had already been used. However, the grenades were still perfectly serviceable, with at least a few dozen stored in the pack.

“Seeing anything useful? Because we’ve really got to get moving.” Umbra said.

Artyom shrugged and stood back up, pulling the pack out of the mud. “Well, if that thing you’re worried about is so big, the grenades might come in handy.”

“I doubt they pack enough of a punch to really hurt an Ogre, but I won’t stop you.” Umbra replied numbly, turning away and continuing down the path. Artyom sighed, trying to ignore how nervous she appeared.

 _Hopefully it won’t be as bad as she thinks_ , he thought, following behind her.

* * *

 Externally, Umbra was doing her best to keep up a calm and collected appearance. It was mostly for Artyom’s sake, since she really didn’t want him freaking out after the other bad run-ins they’d already had during the trip.

Internally, however, Umbra was panicking.

 _Why the hell does an Ogre have to show up fucking_ here? _Of_ all _the possible places…shit, what if it’s one of the more powerful ones? Will the rockets even_ work _?_

She’d dealt with Ogres before, sure. Back when she still went on patrols on the Moon, there’d occasionally been one or two of them near some of the more important Hive strongholds, or in the middle of assaults on Fallen positions.

And every single time she’d had to face one before, it had been a chore.

For the ‘younger’, weaker Ogres, it had taken a couple of rockets, a _lot_ of gunfire, or her pulling out the Golden Gun to take them down before the collateral damage got too bad. With the more powerful ones…

 _It won’t be like Phogoth,_ Umbra desperately thought. _It’s fucking dead, and it’s not coming back. You_ saw _it die, for fuck’s sake!_

Still, as she glanced back at Artyom, she couldn’t help but feel a little fear. Sure, even if the Ogre was a more powerful one, she’d probably manage to escape at the very least. But with Artyom? With the other people supposedly trapped in these ruins?

_They’re going to be slaughtered if we don’t help them._

“…Any update on the comms, Nel?” Umbra quietly asked. One successful transmission was all she wanted, even if it only reached Sly or Keira.

“Well…” Nel said, spinning uncertainly. “Possibly a few fragments, but nothing solid. I’ve been trying to clear up the signal, but so far, it looks like the Hive are still doing something to block us.”

“Just once, just _once_ , can these assholes _not_ make my life hell…” Umbra grumbled.

Rounding a small bend in the path, the woods and ledges began to clear out, leaving a smaller, more open area ahead of them. The ground was still muddy and completely soaked, but besides from a few fallen trees, the clearing appeared to be uninhabited. Even the thick bushes and grasses that had been flowing out of the small patches of mud they had waded through seemed to thin out somewhat, turning the ground into a massive, muddy patch.

However, none of that was comforting to Umbra. As she looked across the clearing, she could easily see a number of massive, deep footprints left in the mud, sinking several inches into the ground. Several smaller, but still large, sets of tracks seemed to run nearby the Ogre’s footprints.

Artyom murmured something behind her. Looking back, she could see him staring at the freshly-made tracks.

“What…what could have made footprints that big?” He asked, glancing at the nearby treeline.

“An Ogre.” She replied, moving closer to the nearest print. It had been a while since she’d had to track the Hive, but she’d never forgotten the lessons she’d learned.

And, unfortunately, the track made it clear that this Ogre wasn’t one of the smaller ones.

“Shit, it’s a big one…probably at least fifteen feet tall, maybe bigger.” Umbra said, trying to compare the footprints to some of the previous ones she’d seen. Definitely not as bad as Phogoth or Nacun, but unfortunately bigger than Ducax or Kuzar.

She looked over to the smaller ones. While they were still fairly large, they didn’t look like any Hive tracks she was familiar with. In fact, it almost reminded her of…

“Why the hell would a bear be here?” Umbra asked, taking a closer look at the prints. “There’s no way one of those could survive this level of radiation for long.”

_Then again, with all the mutated animals I’ve seen around here, maybe it’s not so weird._

The thought of a mutated, starving bear entered her mind, with all the aggression and suicidal ferocity of the mutants and Hive they’d already fought through.

 _Well…if we’re lucky, maybe the Ogre and the bear killed each other off! Yeah! That seems like it could work!_ Umbra thought. Deep down, she knew that the bear probably wouldn’t do anything, but it was still a nice thing to hope for.

**_GROOOOOOOOAH_ **

Umbra immediately snapped Doctor Nope towards a patch of nearby trees, watching as they started to shake and shudder. In the corner of her eye, she could see Artyom taking up a similar position near one of the fallen logs. She moved further away, taking up a position behind a large stump towards his right.

All the while, the sounds of the Ogre approaching continued to grow louder, punctuated by the thick squelches of shifting mud and the sharp cracks of snapping wood. She could see the treetops shifting just ahead, as several trees were knocked down by the approaching creature.

Suddenly, something massive flew out of the woods, landing in the middle of the clearing with a thunderous splash of brackish water and mud. The object continued to slide forwards, skidding several feet in the much before finally coming to a stop.

Shifting her rifle towards the object, Umbra was surprised to see that it appeared to be some sort of animal corpse. Whatever it was had been completely brutalized, with the torso practically torn in half and deep, vicious claw marks across the entire body.

 _Wait, is that a bear?_ Umbra thought, confused. _What the hell-_

“IT’S FIRING!” Nel shouted out, snapping Umbra out of her thoughts. She quickly dove out of the way, throwing herself away from her makeshift cover and into the open.

**_GROOOOOOOOOOOAH_ **

Looking back, Umbra watched as a massive beam of Void energy obliterated the area she had just been standing in, vaporizing the stump almost instantly. The mud and puddles nearby fared no better, boiling and shifting as if the ground itself was writhing in pain.

Following the beam of energy back towards the creature that had fired it, Umbra finally got a clear look at the Ogre they were facing.

 _Oh, that is_ not _good._

The Ogre had finally entered the clearing, showing it’s twisted, disgusting body clearly. Oddly enough, it seemed to lack the consistent armor plating that most Ogres had, with large sections of flesh and muscle uncovered. The sections it did have appeared to be jagged and covered in small, vicious-looking spikes, some of which were already covered in blood. The alien’s entire body was tinted a hideous, sickly green, making even the normally white chitin armor look like it was rotting away.

And, to make matters worse, it was rapidly walking forwards towards both Artyom and her.

* * *

  _What the hell?!_ Artyom hastily thought, observing the massive creature that had suddenly materialized. _Is_ that _what an Ogre looks like?! How the-_

His worries were interrupted when the creature shifted its gaze towards him, it’s skull seemingly filled with malevolent, emerald tumors. Growling in pure hate, it shifted around to face him, marching through the clearing.

Artyom quickly started to fall back, firing several bursts at the creature’s exposed torso and head. They impacted the beast, ripping open small holes in the monster’s gut, but the effect was negligible. In response, the Ogre growled in anger, storming through a tree that was in the way with an explosion of splinters.

“KEEP MOVING!” He heard Umbra shout from behind the monster. “IT’S FASTER THAN YOU’D THINK! RUN AND FIRE!”

“GOT IT!” Artyom shouted back. He started to run faster, firing off bursts behind him while trying to sprint ahead of the massive monster. As he did, he caught another glimpse of the creature’s head, and the evil, misshapen growths upon it. The green lights in its skull appeared to be lighting up, growing in power and intensity-

_fssssssssh **WOOOOM**_

Something impacted against the creature’s shoulder, blowing up with an intense flash and burst of smoke. Chunks of muscle and bone flew away from the wound, showering the nearby area in blood and viscera. Knocked off balance, the Ogre twisted off to the side, barely catching its balance before staggering backwards.

It stood back up, howling in pain and rage as it twisted back in Umbra’s direction, giving Artyom a chance to see how effective her attack had been. The monster’s arm had been heavily injured, with a massive chunk of the upper arm completely blown away. Some smaller wounds had been opened on its body as well, with several long cuts ripping the muscles near its chest.

Despite that, the creature still appeared to be fully functional, reaching down towards a nearby log and ripping it out of the mud. Shifting around, it threw the trunk towards Umbra’s position, causing a massive splash of mud and filthy water as it landed.

_NO! Did that hit Umbra?! Is she okay?!_

Thankfully, as the wave of debris fell apart, he saw Umbra peek out from behind a fallen tree. She didn’t seem to be injured, but with the distance between them, it was hard to tell.

Shifting his attention back towards the creature, Artyom began firing at the creature’s injured arm. The rounds flew into the wound, ripping into the exposed muscle and bone beneath. The Ogre **_ROAR_** ed once more, pounding its arms into the ground.

Suddenly, from the treeline, several harsh shrieks rang out through the air. Glancing off to the side, Artyom thought he could see several figures moving through the shade, each heading towards the clearing.

“Not now, not now! UMBRA! MORE INCOMING!” He shouted out, hoping she had noticed the enemy reinforcements.

“GOT IT! COVER ME, I’LL HANDLE THE OGRE!” She shouted back, hefting a bulky, black and grey weapon on her shoulder.

Artyom nodded, turning his attention towards the treelines. He thought he could see the now-familiar figures of Thralls moving through the dead woods, alongside several of the bulkier ones that had been around at the Theater. Placing the closest one in his crosshairs, he tried to shoot at its torso, only to hear the _click_ of the gun failing to fire.

 _Out of ammunition! Damn, I should have been counting!_ Artyom mentally berated himself, hastily throwing down the rifle and pulling out his new revolver. He tried to ignore the unfamiliar bulk and weight of the weapon, aiming it at the approaching figures and firing.

_fssssssssh **WOOOOM**_

**_GROOOOOOOOOAH_ **

Behind him, he could hear the sounds of Umbra fighting off the Ogre, as another rocket slammed against the bulk of the creature. Even then, despite the heavy firepower she’d brought to bear thus far, the Ogre continued to **_ROAR_** out in fury, responding to Umbra’s attacks with more of those ungodly energy beams.

However, as much as he wanted to glance back and see how that battle was going, he couldn’t shift his attention away. He was forced to fire again, punching a hole through the nearest Thrall’s skull before ducking back behind cover. Several green crystals flew through the air as he did so, striking the dead tree he hid behind or flying just overhead.

Some of the larger creatures had made it into the clearing, firing at him with their bizarre weapons. He had tried to bring them down as well, but they had ducked behind their own cover after two of them had been killed. They had the advantage in range, and it seemed like they knew it.

**_GROOOOOOOOOAH_ **

The Ogre’s beam flew out once again, lighting up the ground near Artyom’s position. He tried to ignore it, moving his aim towards another pack of thralls moving towards him and opening fire. They quickly fell, with holes blown into their torsos. However, as Artyom listened, he tried to listen for the sounds of combat behind him, for the rocket that should be flying towards to Ogre.

Instead, all he heard was the Ogre’s booming footsteps slowly moving away.

He turned around, trying to keep below the line of fire for the rest of the Hive, and stared at the carnage behind him. The Ogre had been brutalized by the second rocket, its arm completely torn off at the shoulder and leaving a wet, lumpy socket behind. Its torso and head were also heavily torn, with each movement sending waves of dark green fluid out of the wounds.

And behind it, where Umbra had been firing from, there was nothing but patches of scorched, burning wood and flash-dried dirt.

“No, no, NO! UMBRA!” Artyom cried out, quickly beginning to shuffle towards the center of the clearing.

_I need to see if she’s alive! If she’s dead, then-_

“Wait, Artyom!” Another voice cried out.

“Wha-” Artyom shouted, glancing off to the side. Nel had suddenly appeared next to him in a shower of sparks, hovering close to the ground and whirring rapidly.

“I can bring her back, but I need you to hold on for a little longer!” Nel explained, glancing back and forth between the wounded Ogre and the rest of the approaching Hive. “Just stay alive and buy me a few moments!”

Artyom stared blankly for a few moments before nodding shakily. He wasn’t sure if Nel could bring the dead back to life, but he agreed that he needed to move. Without Umbra providing support with the rocket launcher, he was stuck between a slowly growing army and a building-sized monstrosity. If Nel had a plan, he’d go with it.

As he shifted back to face the group filtering in from the forest, he felt something tug against his back. Quickly glancing back, he looked at one of the bags that had fallen on the ground, having caught on a nearby branch. He tried to figure out what it was for, before his eyes widened in realization.

_Wait, that’s the bag with the grenades! No time to dig through them now, but I can still use them!_

He quickly grabbed the bag, ripping open the flap on the top and tossing it back towards his former cover. Several grenades flew out, landing across the muddy field before the bulk of them fell next to the ruined, crystal-filled log.

Just behind it, Artyom caught the sight of the rest of the Hive creatures moving towards him. Most of the Thralls had been killed off, but there were still at least ten of the other kind. All of them were rushing towards him, firing off a few scattered, inaccurate shots as they went.

Artyom sprung to his feet, sprinting towards the fallen mutant as quickly as he could. Several crystals flew nearby, zooming through the air nearby or striking the dirt as he ran towards the bear’s corpse.

_Nearly there! Just a little-_

A burning, searing pain suddenly rippled through Artyom’s left arm, causing him to stagger and trip. He glanced at the area, and saw, to his dismay, one of the crystals sticking through his arm. The object seemed to glow malevolently, with each pulse of light causing the pain to flare up again.

Gritting his teeth, Artyom looked back at the log. The Hive had reached it by that point, taking up positions right behind the fallen tree and aiming at him. Some of them were still firing, but it looked like the rest of them were simply trying to keep him pinned to his current spot.

And, right in front of them, the bag of grenades was lying in the shade of the fallen tree.

Artyom slowly raised his revolver, trying to calm his shaking hand. The pain was making it difficult to concentrate, but he needed to focus.

_If they see what I’m doing, they’ll move. Just a few shots…_

He aimed the weapon, trying to ignore the flying chunks of crystal slicing into the mutant’s corpse, and fired. The first shot flew slightly too high, flying into the log and sending splinters flying towards the Hive huddling behind it.

The second shot struck the bag.

In an instant, the makeshift explosives detonated, sending smoke and shrapnel flying throughout the area. The log was seemingly shredded in half, sending chunks of steel and wood throughout the Hive creatures that had taken cover behind it. Chitin, flesh, and blood were thrown back towards the treeline, as the creatures were torn apart by the explosion.

“It worked!” Artyom shouted out happily, crawling up against the bear’s corpse. “Yes!”

**_GROOOOOOOOOAH_ **

The deafening **_ROAR_** from behind him silenced Artyom’s cheers. Looking over his new cover, he saw that the Ogre had stopped looking near where Umbra had fallen and was now looking directly at him. Shifting it’s jaws, the creature began to walk towards him, grunting furiously as it moved.

“Shit…come on, Nel, come on!” Artyom whispered, taking aim at the Ogre’s head. He took a shot, hoping that the monster was close to finally dying. The round struck the Ogre’s skull, opening a bloody hole in the creature’s glowing face, but the Ogre didn’t react.

 _I can’t run, there’s no other weapons…_ Artyom thought, shakily looking around the clearing for something that might help. _I can’t do anything! Please, Nel, whatever you’re doing-_

Suddenly, behind the Ogre, a bright, vibrant flash of orange and yellow came into being. It swirled and shifted, rapidly spinning and changing and _moving_ , before twisting into a humanoid shape.

Out of the otherworldly inferno, Umbra stepped into view, wreathed in flames and golden energy. Her entire being seemed to radiate intense, murderous power, all directed towards the wounded Ogre.

In her hand, a burning revolver was slowly raised towards the Ogre, directly at its chest.

**_thoo-thoo-thooom_ **

Three shots rang out, sending beams of pure, molten gold flying through the Ogre’s chest. They quickly pierced the creature’s body, causing flesh and chitin to burst into flames around it. Muscles boiled, armor cracked, and the creature shrieked out in intense, terrible agony as its body slowly crumbled into glowing ash.

Artyom stared at the unbelievable, horrifying sight before him, unable to think. Even with their advanced technology, he had assumed that Umbra and Nel had been exaggerating about some of the things they had discussed. But this…

Could _anything_ in the Metro stand up to what Umbra was capable of? And if there was, would it even matter if she could just be brought back?

“Artyom! Artyom, are you okay?” Umbra called out, sprinting towards him. The flames had somehow gone out, leaving her back in her old, familiar armor. “Look, I know that was probably kind of crazy, and I probably should have told you about that before, but-”

Artyom took a step back, raising his uninjured arm. “Please, just…wait,” he asked, trying to get his thoughts together. “I…what the hell even _was_ that?”

Umbra slowed down, staring directly at him. “Long story, it’s…well, part of the perks of being a Guardian. I can tell you more, but…”

A sharp beeping noise filled the air, catching Artyom’s attention. Glancing down at his watch, he saw that the filter was down to only three minutes of usefulness, and steadily dropping. There was just enough time to make a break for the entrance, but it would be a close thing.

“Not now. Let’s…let’s just get to Polis for now. Please.” Artyom asked, lowering his arm.

Umbra nodded, taking a moment to glance at his arm. “Sure. Let’s get going.”

As they began trudging towards the surface outpost, a single thought entered Artyom’s mind.

_How the hell will I explain any of this to Miller?_


	10. Homecoming

The rest of the trek through the ruined park went by in awkward silence, only broken by the squelching of their boots through the mud and the occasional far-off gunshot or howl. Artyom tried to keep an eye out for any further enemies, but the Hive had seemingly vanished after the ‘Ogre’ had been killed.

_Just…how the hell can she do something like that?_ Artyom wondered. _That kind of power, alongside that technology…_

Artyom frowned, trying to shake those thoughts from his mind. _She’s been helpful and honest so far, even if she’s bizarre. Who knows how much damage that creature could have caused if she hadn’t done…whatever it was she did?_

His thoughts kept returning to the Dark Ones, and the promises of peace they had whispered to him before they were wiped out in atomic fire. He had been so afraid, so confused at the time, but he hadn’t listened to his doubts. By the time he did, all he could do was watch as the missiles struck their targets.

_It won’t be like the Dark Ones,_ he thought to himself. _Yes, they’re powerful, and they’re strange, but they’re able to communicate with us! We just…we need to be careful._

Ducking under a hanging bundle of roots, Artyom and Umbra emerged into a small, water-filled clearing, flanked by muddy slopes. On the opposite side, a ruined, heavily damaged staircase led out of the park, with cracked fencing lining the sides. As they climbed up, a concrete structure came into view a few meters ahead of them, with massive, formidable dark-brown doors.

“Hey, look! Someone’s out there!” A voice shouted out.

“Come on, quick! Get inside before something shows up!” Another voice called.

Looking at the doorway, Artyom was surprised to see two figures appear in the massive entryway, hurriedly beckoning to them. Both wore heavy-duty ballistic armor, speckled in the white-and-grey camouflage pattern of Polis security, and wielded heavily modified AK’s. However, the most noteworthy part wasn’t the uniforms, or the weapons they were carrying.

_They’re not wearing gas masks! We’ve reached the surface outpost!_

“These guys friends of yours, Artyom?” Umbra asked, glancing between him and the figures ahead.

“Yes,” Artyom sighed happily. “They’re from Polis. Looks like we’ve finally reached civilization.”

They quickly made their way over towards the surface outpost’s entrance, jogging across the uneven concrete pathway. As soon as they entered the building, the two guards hastily closed the doors, slamming them shut with a heavy _thum_.

The outpost itself wasn’t much to speak of, with plain concrete walls and light trailing in through a small hole in the roof. A massive pile of wooden crates filled one of the corners of the room, likely storing ammunition, filters, and other supplies for Rangers or stalkers on their way outside.

He couldn’t bring himself to care about the lack of fanfare or decoration, though. The room was free of mutants, or hostile soldiers, or even radiation. For all its plainness, it was still a sign that Polis hadn’t fared as poorly as the Theater.

“Shit, man, what the hell were you doing out there?” The first guard asked, panting slightly. “You picked the wrong time to try and go stalking. Those new creatures are _everywhere_.”

“Was that you guys firing in the park a few minutes ago? Sounded like you were fighting a war out there.” The second said, slinging his rifle onto his back. “Are either of you injured?”

Artyom shook his head, before pulling off his gas mask. “I’ve got a few wounds, but they can wait until we get underground.”

“You sure?” The first guard asked, staring at Artyom’s arm and grimacing. “That looks like a hell of an injury. We can try and pull it out, if you want.”

Artyom winced, trying to ignore the searing throbs of pain that kept rippling from the wound. “I’ll wait until we’ve got some more medical supplies. If we pull it out now, I’ll start to bleed out.”

“In that case, let’s get you people downstairs. Don’t know who you are, but if you were scouting out there, we’ll need a report of anything you’ve seen outside.” The second guard said. “After that, we can get you sorted with the rest of the refugees.”

“We were going to talk to Miller anyways.” Artyom replied, reaching into his pocket. He quickly pulled out his dogtags, showing the guards the insignia on the sides.

“Shit, you’re Rangers? Sorry, man, but you two don’t really…well…” The first guard said, waving vaguely between Artyom and Umbra. His reaction was hardly surprising. With his tattered uniform and Umbra’s unusual armor, it was no wonder they didn’t look like typical Spartans.

“It’s a long story.” Artyom shrugged, moving towards the back of the room. “For now, I just want to get back underground and try to sort this situation out.”

The two guards glanced at each other. “About that…don’t know how long you guys have been up here for, but the state of affairs in Polis is pretty bad at the moment. We can get you to Miller, but it might take a little while.”

“Refugees, Red Army assholes trying to throw their weight around…shit, I’m surprised there haven’t been any riots down there yet.” The first guard murmured, shaking his head exasperatedly.

“Wait, why would the Red Line send their refugees to Polis? What about Lubyanka?” Artyom wondered.

“Damn, you two really have been up here for a while then!” The first guard whistled. “Don’t know the full story, but I’ve heard the rumors. The Red Line’s been hit hard in the past few days. Apparently, everything from the Theater to the Komsomol’s either been overrun or put under siege.”

Artyom blanched, horrified. “Wait, they’ve attacked _that many stations_?”

“I doubt it, but the Red Line’s still taken a lot of hits recently. My guess is it’s the Nazis pulling something, but everyone’s got a different theory.” The second guard said, opening a smaller set of doors at the end of the room. The opening led to a set of concrete stairs headed downwards, lit with a flickering bulb hanging from the sloped ceiling.

“No way those pricks could do something like this! My money’s on the Invisible Watchers releasing these things.” The first guard said, quickly following the other. The two disappeared, with the sounds of their bickering echoing back into the room as they walked on.

Umbra moved besides Artyom, nodding to herself slowly. After a few moments, she turned to look at him directly. “Okay, I’m not sure what they were talking about, but if your reaction is anything to go off, it can’t be good. How bad’s the situation?”

Steeling himself, Artyom turned towards her. “Worse than I thought. With that many stations under attack, and all from the Red Line…thousands of people could be dead or in danger right now.”

Umbra flinched, gripping her rifle tightly. As he watched, Artyom almost thought he could hear Umbra growl out something, before she responded in an angry, hate-filled voice. “This…this _cannot_ keep happening. We need to stop this, as soon as possible.”

“I understand. Let’s get after the guards. We need to get through the decontamination process, but once that’s done, we can get inside, work out a plan and stop these monsters.” Artyom replied, moving towards the stairs.

* * *

After being led through a large bunker entrance, Artyom and Umbra were walked into a small airlock, surrounded by dirty ceramic tiles and tall glass windows. On the other side of the room, a handful of security guards milled about, either talking to each other, watching the two of them, or looking at various consoles. According to Artyom, the men would act as their escort as they made their way to the commander of Polis’s security forces.

Surprisingly, the whole process was fairly straightforward and simple, even if the facilities involved looked like they could use some maintenance, remodeling, and upgrading. They had to stand still for a few moments, got sprayed by some semi-warm water from a handful of small showerheads, and were let into the next room. Nice, orderly, and calm.

The inside of the station itself was another story entirely.

_How can this many people even fit in here?_ Umbra thought, staring at the spectacle ahead of her.

As the doors to the decontamination room opened up to the rest of the station, Umbra was immediately met with the sight of massive, unruly crowds of people flooding into every corner. Many of them looked completely disheveled and shocked, wandering about blindly and stumbling into others. Guards moved through the throngs of people, trying to keep them away from certain areas or move them into groups, but they were largely being ignored by the mobs of civilians around them.

Even worse, it seemed that there were two different groups of guards trying to restore order to the crowds. One group, dressed in speckled grey-and-white armor, kept arguing with another group in khaki uniforms, with both waving around rifles and shoving each other around. A few small portions of the platform were cordoned off, with small metal fences and barriers keeping people away from a few doorways and columns, but they didn’t seem like they were doing much to limit the ongoing pandemonium.

After spending so much time alone with Artyom, the sheer noise of so many people crowded together was almost deafening. She’d gotten used to hearing Nel filter his conversations, and only having to focus on his voice. Now, however, there were countless voices filling the air, crying and screaming and shouting and begging in Russian.

“Can…can you make _anything_ out of all this, Nel?” Umbra whispered, trying to stand her ground as a group of ragged men shoved their way past her. Many of them were wearing bloody, ruined winter clothing, with massive gashes and tears in the fabric. Some of them tried to ask her about something, but they were quickly pushed away by a handful of guards.

_“Just a few pieces, unless you want me to focus on a specific conversation.”_ Nel whispered back through her comms. _“I’m picking up a few common phrases, but I’m not sure what any of them are supposed to mean.”_

“That’s fine, I guess. Just focus on Artyom and the guards for now, but stay out of sight. We _really_ do not want to set these people off any worse than they already are.” Umbra replied. A lot of the civilians looked like they were on the verge of snapping, and most of the guards looked like they were already on edge. Having Nel appear out of thin air, as hilarious as the idea sounded at first, would result in a bloodbath.

_“Wait, hold on! I’m picking up a signal!”_ Nel whispered back in a much more excited tone. _“It’s coming from another Ghost!”_

“Wait, _what_? Where’s it coming from? Who is it?” Umbra frantically asked back. Besides her, Artyom turned to look at her, looking confused. It didn’t matter right now. She would explain the situation to him once she knew where that signal was coming from.

_There are more Guardians around! Keira and Sly might already be here!_

Nel remained quiet for a few moments, refusing to answer. Umbra tried to keep calm, and ignore the rapidly growing anticipation and worry in her head, because _the rest of her fireteam might still be okay, but they might not be-_

_“Umbra, are you there?”_ A new voice filled her headset. The transmission was still filled with static, on top of the rest of the noise of the station, but Umbra didn’t care.

She would recognize Sly’s voice anywhere.

“Yes! Yes, I’m here! Holy shit, are you guys okay?!” Umbra shouted out. Several people nearby flinched, and a few gave her suspicious looks, but she didn’t mind them.

_“Yeah, we’re both fine! After you ran off, we ran into a couple groups of refugees and helped them to some local settlement! Forget us, though, what the hell happened to you?!”_

“Same thing, only with just one local! Don’t worry, we’re both alright! Wait, where are you guys? Which settlement are you at?”

_“We’re stuck outside the gates of some place called ‘Polis’ right now. We’ve been trying to negotiate with the guards, but they’re not letting anyone else in!”_

“Wait, wait, wait!” She shouted out, turning quickly to Artyom and having Nel take over translation once more. “Artyom, you’ve got some sway with the guards here, right? Can you have them let some people inside? Some of my friends are here, but they’re being kept at the gates by security.”

After a few seconds, Artyom nodded. “I think I can do that, but not from here. We can send a message out once we get to the station headquarters.”

Umbra nodded frantically, returning to Sly’s transmission. “Okay, I’ve got a way to get you guys inside, but it might take a little while. Just hold on for a little while longer.”

_“Alright, I guess. Just…don’t wander off once we get inside, alright? Seriously, we’re not leaving this place without you!”_ Sly responded. It sounded like he trying to be stern, but the relief in his voice was still painfully obvious.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be staying still. We’re headed to the main security office now, and I’m guessing we’ll be stuck there for a while.” Umbra replied. Even if Artyom backed her up, she’d still need to go over the Hive, the Last City, the Vanguard…

_Ooooh, this is going to be such a headache._

_“Fair enough. Don’t be afraid to give us a shout if you need some help!”_ Sly replied, ending the transmission.

“Yeah, because it’s _me_ who needs help in this situation.” Umbra mumbled, watching a nearby civilian get carried off by what looked like medical personnel. The man’s arm was covered in a bloody, misshapen lump of bandages and cloth, occasionally dripping onto the dirty floor tiles. Many of the other civilians ignored the spectacle, continuing to panic or argue with each other instead.

_Let’s just hope this ‘Miller’ guy is as good of a commander as Artyom thinks he is._

* * *

“For the last time, _no_ , we can’t let you people in right now! We’ve still got to process everyone!” The security guard yelled, glaring at the other groups of refugees crowding around the station entrance.

“And we can’t do that _inside_ the damn station?” Keira shouted. “We’ve got wounded here!”

“And we’ve got _more_ wounded _inside_ the station! Just wait your damn turn already!” With that, the guard stormed off, walking over towards another group of civilians that were starting to act up. Nearby, other guards kept watch over the entire tunnel, keeping their weapons lowered but in easy positions to swing back up.

“Yeah, sure, just be patient while  _hundreds of people_ are stuck outside. Great.” Keira grumbled, moving back towards Sly.

On the rails, groups of civilians and refugees crowded around on or between several damaged carts, fully loaded with damaged packs of supplies and luggage. Most of the civilians clustered together in small packs, unwilling to step away from the station gates and trying to keep the guards between them and the open tunnels behind them.

Sly was sitting next to Pavel and Titov, keeping an eye on the dark, gloomy tunnels they had just arrived from. Besides them, only a handful of the refugees were still taking up guard positions at the rear of the column. Further away from the refugees, several fortified guard posts were set up near the tunnel entrances, complete with sandbags, barbed wire, spotlights, and some types of heavy machine guns.

_Good thing these guys aren’t as jumpy as the refugees were, or that could’ve ended a lot worse for us._

As she passed by one of the carts, she spotted Anton lying on a makeshift bed, still passed out from the pain and the medication he had been given. Thankfully, his condition had been stabilized, but it was pretty close. They had managed to stop the bleeding and close up the wound, but the round had gotten dangerously close to hitting his stomach or intestines. Worse still, they hadn’t managed to remove the bullet. She didn’t want to try and dig it out in the middle of this crowd, but leaving it in there could cause more damage later on.

She shook her head, moving on. They’d done what they could with the limited resources and time they had. If it got worse, then they’d improvise.

As she got closer, Sly looked back at her, waving at her to move next to him. From what she could tell, he was looking a lot more enthusiastic than a few moments ago. “Hey, Keira! I’ve got some good news!”

“What is it?” She asked, taking a seat next to him.

“I just managed to talk to Umbra, and-”

“Wait, hold the fuck up. Umbra’s nearby? Where?” Keira cut Sly off, shifting uncomfortably close to him.

“Easy, easy! She’s already inside the settlement. Apparently, she’s got a way to get us through the gates a bit faster.” He said, trying to wave her off.

“So she’s okay?” Keira asked, feeling relieved.

“Yeah, she’s good. Just has to go talk to whoever runs security here for a bit, and she didn't sound too worried about that.” Sly nodded, looking over his rifle. “Who knows, maybe these guys can help us get in contact with the Vanguard.”

“Unless they’ve got an express ride out of the city limits, I doubt it.” Keira replied, glancing at the station entrance. Sure, it was well-maintained compared to the rest of the tunnels they’d walked through, and sure, the guards looked trained, equipped, and prepared.

That didn’t mean much when their equipment still looked like it was centuries out of date, or when the defensive positions looked like they would fall apart as soon as the Hive started to leap from the shadows.

_Hell, I’m pretty sure I saw vacuum tubes sticking out of one of those radios back there. No way that those things can send signals very far, even without all the Hive bullshit going on right now._

“Yeah, fair enough. I’m just happy to hear that Umbra’s still doing alright. Sounds like she even managed to drag someone to safety along the way.”

Keira shrugged. “Makes sense that she’d find someone out here that needs help. I mean, there must be at least a hundred people stuck out here, and if what Vitya said is true, then I doubt they’re the only ones stuck in this situation.”

And Vitya, the ‘officer’ in charge of the refugee caravan, had certainly said a lot during the trek to the gates of Polis. He’d talked about a war between the ‘Red Line’ and the ‘Fourth Reich’, the fall of the settlement his group had fled from, rumors of other attacks on different settlements in the metro tunnels…

He was probably just talking to calm his nerves, but compared to the complete silence of Pavel’s group, it had been a goldmine of information.

Unfortunately, all that information just made it clear that the situation they were in was much worse than they had thought.

“All these people…what a disaster.” Sly muttered. “How the hell did we never even hear about these settlements before now? They should have been evacuated years ago!”

Keira nodded. “We’ve got to be missing something here. Either that, or the Vanguard has phenomenally dropped the ball this time around.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Sly grumbled, slumping down slightly. “I can only imagine how Umbra’s feeling about this whole-”

“Yeah, no, we’re not going there.” Keira interrupted, grabbing Sly’s shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “It won’t be like that again. We’ve found Umbra, and we’ve arrived in time to help these people out. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“Oh my god, you said that. You actually just said that.” Sly groaned, leaning backwards. “We’re all doomed now.”

Keira rolled her eyes, chuckling softly. “Yes, I’m sure the Hive will be sliding out of the vents any second now. They were just waiting for me to give the secret signal.”

The two of them laughed on, chatting and talking even as the wait continued to stretch. Slowly, the feelings of uneasiness and concern that had followed them throughout their time there started to melt away.

* * *

“You’re lucky. Whatever this thing is only nicked the bone a little bit. Missed the major veins and muscle tendons as well.” The doctor said, gingerly placing the green shard into a nearby tray.

“So it’s not a serious injury?” Artyom asked.

“Give it a few days, and it should be fine.” The doctor shrugged. “However, if the wound starts to get worse, make sure you have it checked out. We don’t know what these things are, or what kind of side effects they might have.”

_I’m guessing Umbra might have some idea,_ Artyom thought. _Although she doesn’t seem overly worried so far._

Looking over towards the corner of the room, Artyom saw Umbra reclining on a small, threadbare couch. She kept alternating between looking at his wound being treated and glancing towards the door, seemingly waiting for someone else to enter.

_Hopefully security will let her friends in soon. It’s strange, seeing her so nervous._

The doctor moved over to Artyom’s arm, adding on the final layer of bandages. “We’re running low on painkillers right now, so I can’t offer you more. All I can say is to keep the bandages clean, and to keep an eye out for infections. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got other patients to help out.”

With that, the doctor left the small medical office, closing the door behind him. Artyom was left sitting on the small metal cot, awkwardly wringing his hands together. After all the excitement and terror of the past few days, having a moment of relative peace and quiet felt oddly uncomfortable. Silence filled the air, with only the occasional muffled shout or curse making their way through the thick wooden door.

He had been surprised that they’d been rushed to a private medical office instead of the larger, open infirmary outside, but that might simply have been due to the sheer numbers of wounded they were dealing with. Most of the cots out there had been filled with wounded, with some having more of those jagged green crystals sticking out of them.

_It’s almost like Exhibition, back when the Dark Ones were first revealing themselves. Would that make Umbra like Hunter, then?_

“Hey, Artyom…” Umbra spoke up, turning back towards him. “Don’t worry about the arm. If it’s not already falling off, it should be fine. Hive weapons can be pretty brutal, but their effects aren’t very delayed.”

“Thanks,” Artyom replied, swallowing heavily. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat guilty, hearing her try to comfort him after all how suspicious he’d thought she was. “Not just for the reassurances. For…well, everything. I’m not sure I would have gotten here alive if you hadn’t been there to help me.”

Umbra waved him off half-heartedly. “It’s fine. I couldn’t just leave you out there to deal with all of this on your own.”

“But it’s not just me you helped. That Ogre…I’m not sure we have the firepower to deal with something like that. You still helped keep Polis safe, at least for another day.” Artyom replied.

Umbra shrugged, turning away slightly. “Hey, that’s what I’m here for. Killing hordes of bad guys and keeping people like you safe.”

“Just like the Order, it sounds like.” Artyom sighed. “Either way…I appreciate it. It’s nice, just knowing that there’s other people out there who are willing to help. For years, we thought we were the last ones to survive the war. All we could do was keep fighting on our own, in the hopes that we would live to see the world heal one day.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about that any more. As long as you’re still here, we’ll do our best to keep the Hive at bay.” Umbra said, nodding resolutely.

Suddenly, heavy knocking from the door caught them by surprise. The door quickly opened, letting in a familiar figure in a Polis security uniform, with grey hair, a thick beard, and several jagged scars across his face. His eyes were bloodshot, and had dark bags hanging underneath them, but they still gazed at Artyom with an intense, clear focus.

“Artyom,” Miller said, sounding exhausted yet relieved. “It’s good to see you’re still alive.”


	11. Debriefing

"Colonel, sir!" Artyom said, instinctively standing up and saluting. He winced slightly as his injured leg and arm suddenly ached from the movement, even under the numbing influence of the pain medication.

Miller nodded, returning the gesture. "At ease, Artyom. I understand that you've recently been through a lot, alongside…" He trailed off, gesturing towards Umbra. He could already see the colonel's eyes pointing towards her, flicking between her weapons and her helmet.

"That's Umbra, sir. She's…well, it's complicated." Artyom answered, glancing at her. While she was still sitting down, she seemed to be taking a close look at Miller as well. Her helmet shifted up and down, as if she was trying to scan him for something.

_If Nel's anywhere nearby, it's possible she actually is,_  Artyom thought.

Miller sighed, shaking his head. "Of course it is. Look…normally, I'd try to give you a few hours to rest but with everything going on, we need as much information about what's happening in the Metro as we can get. We're going to have to debrief immediately."

Artyom grimaced. "Understood, sir. It…it might be a bit difficult to believe, though."

"This entire situation is difficult to believe." Miller growled. "Over half the Red Line's been cut off in just under three days. Whatever these things are, they're an even greater danger than the Dark Ones, and this time we've already used all of the damn missiles!" He spat, beginning to pace across the worn carpeting.

Artyom stayed still, waiting for the colonel to calm down. Throughout the year he'd been a member of the Order, he had only ever seen Miller this furious a handful of times. Even when Khan had occasionally tried to get Miller to work with him on some strange mission, or when Miller had been forced to attend 'discussions' about the riches of D6 with diplomats from the other stations, he had mostly managed to hold his temper.

Right now, though, it looked like he was one disaster away from walking out of the station and trying to fight the Hive on his own.

_Well…maybe there's a chance that he'll get calmer once he hears Umbra's story,_  Artyom hoped.  _Or at least the part about there being help outside of Moscow._

"At any rate…" Miller muttered, gesturing towards the doorway. "Umbra…could you step outside for a second? I'll talk with you once I've discussed the situation with Artyom."

Artyom quickly glanced towards Umbra, uncertain of how to proceed. From the way she glanced between him and the colonel, it was clear she was just as unsure.

"Sir, that…that might not be the best idea." Artyom said, rubbing his injured arm sheepishly.

"There's a lot we have to talk about." Umbra added, sitting up straighter in her chair. "Seriously, a  _lot_. And I'm not sure either of us is up for that job on our own."

Miller just stared intently at the two of them, somehow managing to frown even deeper than before. After several seconds, the colonel sighed again, leaning over and closing the door to the office. "This is going to be another fucking Khan situation, isn't it?" He groused, leaning against the wall.

"…Worse than that." Artyom said, trying not to remember the last time Khan had tried to gain Miller's cooperation.

If anything, Miller's gaze only seemed to grow more exhausted at that news. "Damn it…let's get it over with, then."

Artyom paused, turning to share a glance with Umbra. "To start…" He trailed off uncertainly.

"Let's get the hard stuff out of the way first." Umbra said, turning towards the far corner of the room. "Hey, Nel? Time to come out."

A moment later, a small shower of sparks appeared besides one of the bookshelves, casting a weak glow over the binders and papers nearby. The glow continued to focus and sharpen as Artyom watched, spinning and spinning as it shrank. After a few seconds, the small form of Nel appeared in the air, floating and spinning quietly.

_c-click_

Artyom blanched, recognizing the sound instantly as the cocking of a revolver's hammer. He spun around towards Miller, quickly stepping between him and Nel as the colonel raised his weapon.

"Artyom…" Miller growled, his voice filled with suspicion and anger. "What the  _hell_  have you brought into Polis?!"

"Whoa, whoa,  _whoa!_ " Umbra shouted, jumping out of her chair. "Look, I can explain. Just put down the gun, and let's  _talk_."

Miller flinched, glancing between Umbra and Nel as he heard the Ghost's translation away from Umbra's helmet. "What…what the fuck…"

"Alright, short version? That's Nel, my Ghost." Umbra quickly said, inching over towards where Artyom was standing. "They're like…well, the closest thing you'd probably know about is a drone. But they're not just that!" She hastily corrected herself, turning to look at Nel. "They're fully sapient and help Guardians out with doing their jobs."

"They can do impossible things, sir." Artyom interjected. "Helpful things, but…so far Nel's brought supplies out of thin air, translated instantly for Umbra…she even brought Umbra  _back from the dead_  just over an hour ago, sir!"

Accentuating his point, Umbra slowly raised her arm, leaving her palm facing the ceiling. In another flash of blue sparks, a small medical case suddenly materialized, already slightly opened.

By this point, Miller's expression had transformed from fear to pure incredulity. He simply stood there, pistol pointed at Nel as he desperately tried to make sense of the nonsensical situation before him.

_I guess it's better than it could have been,_  Artyom thought, trying to ignore the revolver that was now aimed at his chest.  _It seems like he's actually considering what we've said, at least._

"So yeah, like I said, not from around here." Umbra continued. "I'm from a place called the Last City, which is many,  _many_  miles from here. That's pretty much the last place on Earth where humanity is still holding out, thanks to the Vanguard and the Traveler."

"The Vanguard, from what I understand, is...well, the closest thing is special forces." Artyom interrupted. "Similar to the Order, but…well, with everyone having access to  _that_  kind of gear and help."

"Some have better gear than others, but that's besides the point!" Umbra exclaimed, turning to face Miller directly. "Look. You probably think this is insane, and nothing makes sense. I get it. But these  _things_  attacking your stations? We've fought them before. A  _lot_."

At that, Miller's expression shifted slightly. It was still distrustful and suspicious, but underneath it, Artyom could have sworn that Miller seemed almost  _hopeful_.

"You know how to fight them?" He asked in a slightly calmer tone, slowly lowering his revolver. It took everything Artyom had to not sigh in relief at that.

"Not just fight them. We know how to  _win_  against them. And we want to help you guys drive them back." Umbra said, gesturing between herself and Nel.

Miller simply stood still for several moments, glancing between the revolver, Nel, and Umbra, as if he were wondering if the gun itself was even real at that point.

"Then  _explain_." Miller finally said, holstering his revolver in a way that seemed incredibly reluctant. "The 'Vanguard', the 'Last City', these  _monsters_ …tell me  _everything_."

"I can do that. First, though, I've got something that I should probably let you guys know about. Just…don't pull your gun on me, okay? This is going to be a little weird, but that's really not cool." Umbra said, reaching towards her helmet. Small  _hiss_ es of air leaked out as she began to undo the straps and clasps.

_She's taking off her helmet? Why now?_  Artyom wondered, observing the process.  _Is it just because we're safe-_

His thoughts were interrupted as, with a small pop, Umbra pulled her helmet off.

What was revealed wasn't human. Instead of flesh or hair, all that was present was sleek, spotless black metal plates, molded in the shape of a head. Small, antenna-like protrusions stuck out from where her ears should have been, almost as if they were supposed to be replacements. Sharp red lights glowed through the cracks, casting her face in an imposing, inhuman light. Underneath the plating, Artyom could make out incredibly complex, bizarre machinery, constantly shifting as Umbra looked between Miller and him with glowing red eyes.

_What…what the hell…_ Artyom thought, unable to bring his thoughts together at the sudden sight of Umbra's face. She'd seemed completely human before, but now…

"I'm Umbra-7. Exo Guardian, Hunter, and temporary Vanguard liaison, at your service." She cheerfully said, sticking out one of her hands.

Artyom couldn't respond. He was too stunned to even move. All he could do was stare at the impossibility that was Umbra's head, trying to make sense of the sudden revelation. Surely she couldn't be a machine! Even for someone who had been brought back from the dead, and summoned a revolver out of fire…

… _This whole situation is madness._  Artyom thought, feeling somewhat silly as he recalled the other impossible things she had done before.  _But…there's not much we can do about it at this point._

Glancing over at Miller, Artyom could see that he was just as shocked at Umbra's true appearance. The colonel's jaw hung open, while his eyes remained fixed on Umbra's head. One of his hands was firmly gripped on the handle of his revolver, although, thankfully, it remained in his holster.

Finally, after several seconds of awkward silence, Miller seemed to shake himself out of his shock. Sighing, he lifted his other hand, hesitantly returning Umbra's handshake.

"Colonel Miller. Commander of the Spartan Order, and leader of the security forces in Polis." He said, lowering his arm quickly. "Is the rest of your squad…" He trailed off, gesturing uncertainly at Umbra's head.

"Sly is, but Keira's human." Umbra replied, glancing back towards the door. "You'll be able to verify whatever I say when they show up, and I've already talked with Artyom about most of this stuff. Well, besides the whole 'I'm an Exo' thing." She said, looking back towards Artyom. It was difficult to tell with how alien her face was, but it seemed like she was trying to be apologetic. "Sorry for the sudden shock, but I  _really_  need you to believe me for the rest of this conversation, and…well, considering the time period you're used to, I doubt that there's anything like me you're familiar with."

"…I suppose I'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt, for the time being." Miller grumbled, reaching inside one of his pockets. He quickly pulled out a small notepad and a pencil, flipping over to a blank page. As he did, Artyom could barely hear Miller mumble "…couldn't be NATO…"

"Alright…well, to begin with…" Umbra went on, beginning to go into detail about the same strange future she had described to Artyom previously. Next to her, Artyom could see Nel hover above her shoulder, spinning slightly as she translated everything that Umbra mentioned.

Moving back towards his cot, Artyom let out a sigh of relief. Although the situation was even more bizarre than he had anticipated, they'd accomplished their goal. Miller could hear what he needed to know, and from there they would be able to figure out how to beat back the Hive.

Laying back down, and letting his head hit the pillow, Artyom finally let sleep claim him. After all, Umbra's explanation would likely take a while, and he had earned this rest.

He would simply get to his part of the debriefing later.

* * *

"…And that's just about everything that matters right now." Umbra said. "To sum it up: time-traveling robots brought you guys to the future, you're fighting magic aliens from the moon, and I'm an immortal undead soldier that's been given powers by a friendly giant sphere in the sky."

From Miller's expression, it seemed like he had managed to process all of what she'd said. It looked like he  _really_  wished he didn't, with how he kept staring at her with a dead, exhausted look, but he'd at least written down plenty of notes.

… _Is this how Zavala feels some days?_  Umbra wondered, thinking back to some of the Titan Vanguard's expressions during the Tower's busier moments. Miller's expression wasn't quite as unimpressed with her as Zavala's could get, but it was disturbingly close.

Overall, the debriefing definitely went better than it could have gone. Miller had listened to what she'd said, he'd asked some good questions, and it seemed like he might actually act on the information. A big part of that was probably from the shock of seeing an Exo for the first time, but she'd take what she could get at this point.

Granted, there were a lot of ways that the meeting could have gone worse. For a second there, Umbra had legitimately been worried that Miller would shoot at Nel or Artyom. Even if his revolver was ancient-looking, she did  _not_  want to see what it could do against something as fragile and important as her Ghost, or as unarmored and fleshy as Artyom's torso.

"This is…this whole situation is ridiculous." Miller grumbled, setting his pile of notes on the nearby desk. "So, according to you, these 'Vex' creatures sent  _all of Moscow_  into the future? By  _centuries_?"

"It sounds weird, I get it. But it's still the most likely explanation." Umbra said, choosing to ignore the way Miller scoffed at that. "They've been messing with time travel for…well, a really long time. I'm guessing this whole situation is part of one of their plans."

"And these 'Hive' beasts using magic? Dark rituals to summon the dead?" Miller asked, spitting the words out as if he regretted saying them immediately.

"Well, they don't bring  _everything_  back from the dead, thankfully. We'd probably already be dead if they did." Umbra shuddered, imagining how horrifying a tidal-wave of constantly-respawning Thralls trying to attack her would be. "As far as we know, they just use that sort of thing on the bigger, meaner Hive bad guys. And…yeah, they can use magic. Or, at least, what people call magic. They can make barriers and portals, weaken enemies, and give each other powers."

"God damn it…" Miller sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I refuse to believe that they can do all of that. That's just…it sounds like something from a fantasy book! But then, how did they…" He trailed off, muttering under his breath.

"…But what?" Umbra asked, feeling concerned with the colonel's reaction.

"Nothing, just…we've gotten some unusual reports from the northern tunnels recently. From your descriptions, it sounds like it could be one of these 'Wizards' you mentioned." Miller replied, frowning at the creature's name. "I'll send a squad out later to investigate.

"You might want to have someone from my fireteam tag along. Wizards are a lot more dangerous than the usual types you've been facing so far, and I'm not sure how effective your guns will be against them." Umbra said, thinking back to some of the weapons she'd seen as they'd gone through Polis.

_I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of guns that were literally made out of bike parts,_  Umbra thought, somehow resisting the urge to shudder. _It's a miracle these people have survived as long as they have._

"I'll take that into consideration, but I'd prefer it if your group kept out of sight for the time being. The situation is delicate here at the moment, and having people see you, or those 'powers' of yours, would cause a panic here."

Umbra shrugged. "Well, you're going to have to tell everyone about us eventually. All we need to do is get out of range of whatever's jamming our comms, and the Vanguard will be on the way to help evacuate you guys."

"And how, exactly, do you expect to get outside of the city?" Miller asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The same way we got here." Umbra replied, crossing her arms. "We'll just fly out in our Dropships."

"You've got  _aircraft_  in the city somewhere?" Miller asked incredulously.

_You're surprised by_ that _at this point? Seriously?_  Umbra thought, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Well, more like spacecraft, but they still work in-atmosphere." Umbra said, waving one hand in a so-so motion. "Shouldn't take too long to make our way to where they're parked, and we'll be able to head right back afterwards."

"That…isn't going to be an option anymore." Nel interjected uncertainly, flying in front of Umbra. "While you were talking to Sly and Keira, I…got some new data from their Ghosts."

"…What happened to our ships, Nel?" Umbra asked, feeling a fresh wave of dread rise inside of her.

"They were destroyed. Ripped apart by Ogres." Nel replied, drooping slightly. "Completely smashed to pieces."

"... _All_ of them?" Umbra asked. "I mean, our ship wasn't parked right next to theirs. Could it still be alright?"

"They don't know. However, from what Sly said, it looked like they had a couple of Ogres scouring the entire area. It's...unlikely that your ship survived either." Nel finished.

_God_ fucking _damn it,_  Umbra thought, grimacing. _This…this complicates things. A lot._

Sure, their fireteam could probably fight their way outside of the city. Eventually. However, depending on the number of Hive, mutants, and other assorted weird shit that got in their way, that could take a fairly long time. Time that the people here clearly did  _not_  have, if she was reading the current situation correctly.

_There're already a couple thousand dead or missing from this mess so far, and that's just in the last three days. If we take another day or two to get outside of the jamming signal, who knows how many more will die?_

"…On second thought, that may no longer be an option." Umbra said, turning back towards Miller. "You wouldn't happen to know about a quick way out of the city, would you? Because otherwise, things just got a  _lot_  worse."

Miller's expression only hardened further as she spoke. "If we  _did_  have a way out, we'd already be evacuating the civilians from here to outside of Moscow. All we have are a handful of modified trucks, but with the road conditions and the lack of fuel, they won't make it very far."

Umbra looked down at the floor, rubbing her arms awkwardly. "Then…well, we could still walk out on foot. But…well, then we'd be leaving you guys all alone to deal with these things. Might take a day or two, depending on difficult the terrain is and how many things we need to fight through."

Miller shook his head. "That's assuming you make it out of the city at all. Do you  _really_  think you can make it all the way to the outskirts of the city by yourselves?"

"…Probably?" Umbra shrugged. "Mostly depends on the Hive, and…"

_A haunting, beautiful red star hangs off in the distance, beckoning for her to come closer._

"… _other_  things we might run into." Umbra said, shivering slightly. "But the mutants and the radiation shouldn't be that big of a deal."

Miller shook his head, mumbling angrily. "Even if you did manage to get back to the city outskirts…this evacuation idea of yours isn't going to work. Nobody here will just follow you off to God-knows-where, just based off of some promises on your part."

"Why not? I mean, this place is literally falling apart, and the Last City isn't currently being taken over by aliens." Umbra asked, gesturing to the rest of the office they were in. While it was certainly in much better condition than some of the abandoned tunnels she had seen before, the room was clearly not in the best state, with small cracks spreading all across the concrete walls.

Miller seemed to ignore that. "A city that nobody here has ever heard of, described by a person nobody has ever seen or heard of before. Sure, you may be a machine that we could never build, and can do…whatever the fuck it is you and that drone of yours," Miller said, pointing towards Nel, "can do, but that won't make people trust you."

"Okay, first off, we'd both appreciate it if you could just say 'Exo' and 'Ghost' instead of that other stuff. Those other terms are just belittling." Umbra said, glaring at Miller. "Second, we could just show them more stuff from the future. I mean, I showed you what I am, and you seem to trust me."

Miller shook his head. "I don't trust you. I believe that you came from outside of Moscow, and that you have some experience with these 'Hive' creatures. Beyond that, the only reason I have to listen to you is Artyom's testimony, and he's been too optimistic for his own good before."

"Then why the hell did you even listen to anything I had to say?"

"Because some of your testimony about these creatures matches up to what we've seen so far. We'll have to verify the rest ourselves." Miller said, picking up his notes from the desk. "I'm trying to keep an open mind about the rest, but I'm not going to do anything that puts the rest of Moscow at risk."

"Then help us find a way out of the city!" Umbra exclaimed. "Hell, we don't even have to evacuate everyone! Not first, at least! We can just get some supplies and reinforcements here, and send a few of you guys back to make sure everything's fine!"

"That sounds more reasonable…" Miller trailed off, moving towards the door. "Regardless…we can't do anything at the moment about that. Unless the rest of your squad has come up with some way to contact your Vanguard, we have more important things to worry about."

_Son of a bitch. All of that, and what? We're just stuck here while more of these people die?_  Umbra thought sullenly, clenching her fists in frustration.  _Fuck the Hive, and fuck this place._

Reaching for the door handle, Miller paused, glancing back towards Umbra. After a second, he sighed softly. "Look…I'll do what I can to see if I can find some way to help you out. We don't have anything, but it's possible that Hansa or the Red Line might have a better option."

Umbra blinked. "Wait, but didn't you just say-"

"I still don't trust you. Not fully. But you're right about the Metro falling to pieces. If it's a choice between guaranteed annihilation and possible annihilation…there's really only one option." He shrugged, opening the door and walking outside. "All I ask of you is to keep all of this private, and to keep the rest of your squad close when they arrive. Otherwise…just keep Artyom company for now. I'll talk with him later."

With that, he shut the door, leaving Umbra, Nel, and a sleeping Artyom alone once more. The sudden silence felt unnatural, after all of the previous anger, frustration, and gun-waving.

"That was a little…" Umbra said, struggling to find the right word.

"Uncomfortable? Bizarre?" Nel offered, moving back above her shoulder.

"Anticlimactic, I think." Umbra said, walking back towards her chair. Sure, they'd managed to alert the locals as to what was really going on, and Sly and Keira were nearby…

But what had they really accomplished? They were still stuck in this city, the Hive were still right at the gates, and they were no closer to finding a way to help out these people. All they had done was give these people a little more of a fighting chance, and even that wouldn't help them out forever.

_Worst comes to worst, we can just run out to the outskirts on foot. Either that, or march into the Hive's tunnels and clear them out ourselves._  Umbra thought, sitting back down.  _There are still options, but…why can't any of them be_ good _options?_

She groaned, closing her eyes. Hell, even with everything else going on, Artyom had managed to fall asleep nearby. Following his lead didn't really seem so bad at the moment.

Maybe a few minutes of rest would help her think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a lot longer than I'd have liked, but I got kinda carried away with finals. Sorry for the delay!
> 
> Also, big thanks to Maldevinine for beta-ing this chapter!


End file.
